Commentary on Micah

Latin Text from public domain Migne Editors, Patrologiae Cursus Completus.

Translated into English using ChatGPT.

Table of Contents Prologue Book One 1:1 1:2 1:3-5 1:6-9 1:10-15 1:16 2:1-5 2:6-8 2:9-10 2:11-12 3:1-4 3:5-8 3:9-12 4:1-7 Book Two 4:8-9 4:10 4:11-13 5:1 5:2 5:3 5:4 5:5 5:6 5:7-15 6:1-2 6:3-5 6:6-7 6:8 6:10-16 7:1-4 7:5-7 7:8-13 7:14-17 7:18-20

Prologue

Prologue

Micah, whom I now desire to dictate commentaries on, is the third in order among the twelve prophets according to the Septuagint interpreters; according to the Hebrew (or rather, the Hebrew truth), he is the sixth, and is followed by the prophet Jonah, who succeeds Obadiah, and so it happens that Amos is the third and Joel the second after Hosea, who is the first among all. Therefore, as if placed in the heart of the volume, it must contain profound mysteries and the word of God, which always descends to the prophets, also descends to Micah, who is interpreted as humility: to Micah from Moresheth, which is a small village near the city of Eleutheropolis in Palestine even to this day. But 'humility' () in our language means 'heir'. Therefore, humility, which is among the virtues or even the chief virtue, is born of the hope of the Lord's inheritance. However, it is not the humility that comes from the awareness of sins; rather, it is the humility that is placed among the virtues, as it is said: Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time (1 Peter 5:6). And: Whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:14). And: Before contrition, the heart of a man is lifted up, and before glory, it is humbled (Prov. XVI, 18). Therefore, even the Lord says: Learn from me, for I am meek and humble-hearted (Mat. XI, 29). So how is it that among us, words are placed as votive and almost as auspicious for virtue? For example: victorious, chaste, pious, upright. And in Greek it is called σώφρων and εὐσεβὴς. And appellative names are translated into proper names. Similarly, among the Hebrews, children are given names from the vocabulary of virtues, such as Michaeas, Abdias, and Zacharias, and others like them.

Book One

Book One

1:1

(Chapter 1, Verse 1) The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem, or according to the Septuagint, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. The word of the Lord came to Micah after Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah, who prophesied during the reign of Uzziah. From this we understand that Micah did not prophesy during the times of Uzziah, but rather during the times of his sons Jotham, after whom Ahaz reigned, and Hezekiah, who succeeded his father Ahaz and during whose reign the ten tribes were taken into captivity by the Assyrians (2 Kings 18). Therefore, it pertains to history according to the order of the captivity (because Samaria, the capital of Israel, was captured first, then the city of Jerusalem) that the title of prophecy is first placed concerning Samaria, and secondly concerning Jerusalem. But as for the mystical understanding, because Samaria is always understood in heresies, and Jerusalem in the Church, we say that the word of the Lord becomes for the humble (or Jerusalem) and for the coheir of Christ, about perverse doctrines, and about the Church, if she has perhaps committed any sins, and to weave together the order of the whole volume. But as for Samaria and the ten tribes, who were separated from the kingdom of Jeroboam of the Davidic lineage (3 Kings 12), they may be considered as heretics, and this is testified not only by the entire Scripture, but especially by the prophet Hosea, and even this very book, which calls them impious heretics and sinful church members. For immediately afterwards it says: What is the wickedness of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the sin of the house of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? This translation is according to the Seventy translators. Furthermore, how it is read in Hebrew, we will briefly explain. But also, that which heretics always rely on as if in the sublimity of their dogmas and despise the simplicity of the Church, is said elsewhere: Woe to those who despise Zion and trust in the mountain of Samaria (Amos 6:1); for from Zion shall come forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3). Moreover, Samaria has made for itself golden calves, which indeed have beauty on the surface but do not possess the breath of life; and it was made in the house of God, which is interpreted as Bethel. For the people of Israel could not receive gods except those that were made from scriptures, and in the house of God. Although they call their assemblies Bethel, after the making of idols, Bethel ceased to be and is called Bethaven, which means house of idols. This is in reference to the title. Now let's come to the beginning of the prophecy and invoke the coming of the Holy Spirit while the Lernaean Hydra beast rages. You, O Paula and Eustochium, pour forth prayers to the Lord and Savior, that envy may not harm me, but that my free mind may think only of that which it strives to explain, and may not feel the blows of insults, which the Lord despised in His suffering (Mark 14 and John 16, 18).

1:2

(Verse 2.) Hear, all people, and let the earth and its fullness attend, and may the Lord God be a witness to you, the Lord from his holy temple. LXX: Hear, all people, and let the earth and all who are in it listen, and may the Lord God be a testimony to you, the Lord from his holy house. Because according to the narrative the meaning is clear, I leave it to the discernment of the wise reader. But according to the figurative interpretation, he calls all people to listen, that is, the churches of the whole world, and to listen to the earth, because earthly doctrines of heretics have been constructed in it. But when heresies are numbered among the works of the flesh, which is always referred to as earthly, and the Apostle to the Galatians does not remain silent (Gal. 5), and the Lord in the Gospel indicates to the wise listener: 'He who is of the earth speaks of the earth.' And in distinction to them, he again says of the Ecclesiastics: 'He who comes from heaven is above all' (John 3:31). And: 'What he has seen and heard, this he testifies.' But if this that he says, 'Hear, O people,' refers to that saying of the Lord: 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear' (Luke 8:8), it sounds like something more than what is later added: 'Let the earth attend, we will adjust to the Church, Hear, O all people.' But let those heretics who have accepted earthly doctrine take notice: let the earth and all those who are on it attend, so that both these people, if they hear, and those people, if they pay attention, may not suffer the things which the word of the Lord threatens afterwards. And may the Lord be a witness to them, as it is read in Hebrew, a witness, or as Symmachus has more clearly interpreted, testifying and testifying not from elsewhere, but from his own house, which is the Church, or certainly in the Son, that is, in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the temple of the Father, and from whose mouth the Father speaks, penetrating the depths and marrow of those who wish to pay attention and hear.

1:3-5

(Verse 3, sequence) Because behold the Lord will go out from his place, and he will come down and tread upon the heights of the earth, and the mountains will be consumed beneath him, and the valleys will be split like wax before the fire, like waters flowing down a steep slope. Because of the wickedness of Jacob, all this, and because of the sins of the house of Israel. What wickedness of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what heights of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? LXX: Behold, the Lord will go out from his place, and he will come down, and he will ascend upon the heights of the earth, and the mountains will tremble beneath him, and the valleys will wither like wax before the fire, and like water flowing down: because of the impiety of Jacob, all these things, and because of the sin of the house of Israel. What is the wickedness of the house of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the sin of the house of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? O Samaria and Jerusalem, listen, and carefully heed the Lord testifying against you from His temple, and proclaiming whatever He will do. Behold, the Lord will come out from His place. For He who is humble and kind, and whose nature is mercy, is forced for your sake to assume a role of cruelty that He does not possess. And he shall come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. The descent of God is, and his majesty runs down to lower things, to tread upon the earth, and to crush even the powerful. And they shall be consumed, he says, whether the mountains waste away, and the valleys beneath him, whom we understand to be the leaders and the people. And just as nearby fire does not sustain wax, and flowing water is carried headlong: so shall the pride of all the wicked, when the Lord comes, be dissolved and flow away. But all this will happen because of the sins of the ten tribes, which Jacob and Israel called, and because of the transgression of Judah; for in the ten tribes Samaria was the metropolis, and in the kingdom of Judah Jerusalem, idolatry was practiced: this is according to the literal sense. However, the Lord will come out from his place, whom we can understand as either the Son or all the saints. For the Son himself says: I am in the Father, and the Father in me (John 14:10). And of the saints: I will dwell and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people (Leviticus 26:12). Therefore, concerning these things, it goes forth, not that He may abandon them; for even concerning the apostles, the word of the Lord went forth to those who heard, and yet He did not abandon them. And such places, that is, those that deserve to have God as a guest, have been raised up, as if resurrected with Christ, and seated with Him in heavenly places. And it is said that he descends to those who cannot hear his teaching on the mountain. And when he descends, he will not ascend to the lowly and those who are in a low position; but those who are called high and who understand the majesty of the coming of the Lord, they will be moved. And although there are mountains, they will still fear the presence of such a charioteer and ascender. But the valleys, that is, souls inserted into earthly bodies, and not rising with the celestial man, will not be able to bear his presence; but whatever is hard in them will be dissolved, and thus flow, just as if flat waters are carried swiftly into the depths. Therefore, the terrible Lord will come to teach, that is, to move mountains, and to dissolve the low things of valleys, because Jacob has committed impiety, and Israel has sinned. The impiety of Jacob is indeed the meeting places of heretics, which are called Samaria. And the sin of Judah, that is, of him who confesses the Lord, is none other than Jerusalem, in which many crimes are found. And as for the fact that the house of Judah refers to Christ, whose Church it is, and as we have often said, let us also consider this for the present: Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. (Genesis 49:8). It can also be understood in this way, that because of the impieties of Samaria and the crimes of Judah, the Lord went out from his former place, and said to the Jews (Matt. 23:38): Behold, your house will be left desolate for you (Luke 13:35). And he will come down from heaven, and ascend above the heights of the earth, that is, above those who, believing in the humility of the Gentiles, have deserved to be exalted. And the mountains, the doctrines of the philosophers, and the lofty kingdoms were moved, and those who remained humble were consumed and broken by the coming of the Savior and the growing Church, and by the idols falling into the depths when the mountains rose up high. Therefore the Lord has left his place, and the Church has been built among the nations, so that the mountains would tremble under his feet, and the deep valleys would be dissolved, because Jacob acted wickedly, and Israel sinned, and all the tribes denied the Lord.

1:6-9

(Verse 6 onwards): And I will make Samaria a heap of stones in the field, when a vineyard is planted, and I will pour down her stones into the valley, and will lay bare her foundations. And all her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of a harlot. Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. LXX: And I will make Samaria a caretaker of fruits in the field, and a plantation of vineyards; and I will uncover its foundations and reveal all of its carved images, and all of its wages will be burned with fire, and all of its idols I will put to destruction, because it gathered them from the wages of prostitution, and destroyed them with the wages of prostitution. Because of this, it will lament and mourn, it will go barefoot and naked, it will make a lamentation like the dragons, and a mourning like the daughters of Sirens, because its wound has obtained, because it has come to Judah and has touched the gate of my people, even Jerusalem. According to the order of sins, there is an order of punishments. Samaria was the first to sin, and they made idols and worshiped calves instead of the Lord: therefore, let it perish first. I will destroy it when the Assyrians come, and I will make it like a heap of stones when a vineyard is planted, so that it is turned into mounds. And I will remove its stones into the valley. It was indeed situated in the mountains, where Sebaste is now, and it is where the bones of the holy John the Baptist are buried. And I will reveal its foundations. Such will be the ruin and the destruction of the city, that not only the walls and buildings will collapse, but even the foundations will be exposed to the very last stone. And all its sculptures and treasures, which were gathered by various kings, will be brought down and burned by fire, and reduced to nothingness. For the riches and abundant possessions, which were presumed to be the result of idolatry, will be taken to another harlot, that is, to Nineveh. Just as they committed fornication with the idols they made in their own land, so they will go to another land of idols and prostitution, that is, to the Assyrians. So far concerning Samaria. And because the same calamity will happen to Jerusalem (for it also sinned with a similar error, abandoning its God and making idols), therefore the prophet attributes a kind of personification to God, and under his own persona he expresses a lamenting affection, and says: About this I will mourn and wail; I will go stripped and naked (for I have lost ten tribes), and I will make a lamentation like jackals, and mourning like ostriches. For just as dragons roar with a terrifying hiss, according to the accounts of those who have written about natural history, at the time when they are defeated by elephants; and just as ostriches are forgetful of their eggs, as if they had not laid them, and leave their young to be trampled on by the feet of beasts in the sand (Job 39); as it is more fully described in the book of Job: so I also, stripped of children and naked, will go on my way. And I shall do this, because her wound is desperate, that is, Samaria. And the same sin, or rather the same punishment of sin, which destroyed Samaria, will come even to Judah, and even to the gate of my city Jerusalem. For just as Samaria was overthrown by the Assyrians, so Judah and Jerusalem will be overthrown by the Chaldeans. And indeed, as we understand, Samaria was once the Church of heretics, which, separated from God, became a gathering of the people; the Lord himself threatens that he will make it a place for the keeping of apples, an orchard and a planting ground for a vineyard. For it is much better to overthrow an useless city, and its stones with which it was built, to be thrown down, and to prepare it as an orchard and a plantation of vineyards, than to remain in the worst kind of construction. For when it has been destroyed, and its foundations have been revealed (by which it seemed to hide its mysteries, and to have firm doctrines on which it stood, and all idols appeared to have a kind of beauty, composed by skillful craftsmanship, and have been cut down by the ministers of God, that is, by the Ecclesiastical men), then in the place of the worst construction, various fruits of the Church will be born, and not only will they be born, but they will also be guarded, and the vineyard of Sorek will be planted, from which wine will be made, which the Lord promised to drink in the kingdom of the Father (Mark 14). Not only, however, will the foundations of that which was previously hidden in the earth be opened and brought forth into the open, and the idols which they had fashioned for themselves be overthrown; but even the glory and wealth which she seemed to possess through her fornication and her error will be consumed by my fire, of which I spoke in the Gospel: I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish that it were already kindled (Luke 12:49): and they shall be burned up and reduced to nothing, for they have been contracted not from the truth of doctrines, but from the fornication of the soul and from errors collected from here and there. For heretics, indeed, do not have riches coming from paternal inheritance, but daily they find what they cultivate, and they fashion idols for themselves with skillful hand and curious mind. Therefore, when their field has been converted into a custody of fruits, and prepared for vineyards, and the stones with which the city was built have been removed into the depths, and their foundations have been revealed, and all the carved and burnt images, and the rewards that they promised themselves with empty hope, and whatever they seemed to worship as God, have been reduced to nothing, because in the fornication of the soul, they had obtained all their price for themselves: then, understanding their former error, having turned back upon themselves, they will lament in those things at which they previously laughed, and they will mourn in those things in which before, in a certain manner, they rejoiced in their fornication. And the deponents will cast off from their feet whatever is deadly, and they will be barefoot, for the ground on which they stand is holy, and they will throw away all the clothes of their fornication, and they will be naked so that they can be clothed in the garment of Christ, and they will lament like dragons. For sometimes even dragons lament when they see the greatest dragon captured and hanging on the hook of a fisherman, and the sea deserted. And they shall lament like the daughters of the Sirens, for the songs of heretics are sweet, and deceive the people with their sweet voices. None can pass by their songs unless they stop up their ears and become deaf. Therefore, Samaria shall weep and mourn for these things, for the arrow of the Lord has wounded her, and she shall recognize the error of her ways. Not only has she sinned herself, but she also desires to bring her iniquity and error into the gates of Judah. It is said of her: She came up to Judea and touched up to the gates of my people, up to Jerusalem. She touched the gates, as we understand them with our ears. However, she could not enter the middle city: for if she had entered, she would have made Samaria from Jerusalem. How often we see some in the Church scandalized by the heretical teachings and seeking how to answer their questions, yet not leaving the Church, let us say, she came to Samaria, or the region of Samaria up to the confessing people, up to the ears of God's people, up to the ears of Jerusalem. For what is said touches as well the gates of my people, it is to be understood in general, so that it may be supplied, it also touches even the gates of Jerusalem. Up to this point, against Samaria and against Jerusalem, let us see the rest, which follows.

1:10-15

(Vers. 10 seq.) In Geth, do not announce, do not weep with tears, sprinkle yourselves with dust in the house of dust: pass by, you inhabitants of Saphir (Beautiful), confused with disgrace, she who dwells in Sennan (Exit) has not come out. The lament of the house of Asel (Neighboring) will receive you: she who stood for herself, because she is weakened in good, she who dwells in Maroth (Bitterness): for evil descends from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem. The tumult of chariots has amazed the inhabitants of Lachish, the beginning of sin is the daughter of Zion: for in you were found the wickedness of Israel? Therefore, He will send messengers over the inheritance of Gath: the houses of falsehood for deceit to the kings of Israel. Yet I will bring the heir to you, O inhabitant of Mareshah; to Adullam the glory of Israel will come. LXX: Those in Gath, do not boast; those in Beth-leaphrah, do not rebuild the house of mockery: sprinkle your mockery on the land, you who inhabit the towns! The inhabitant of Sennacherib has not come forth. Mourn for the house near her; it will receive a blow of sorrow, who has taken for good what dwells in sorrow? For evils have come down from the Lord upon the gates of Jerusalem. The sound of chariots and horsemen is heard in Lachish: the prince of sin is the daughter of Zion: for in you have been found the iniquities of Israel. Therefore, he will give emissaries to the inheritance of Gath: empty houses: they have been in vain for the kings of Israel: until I bring heirs to you, who dwell in Lachish, the inheritance will come as far as Odollam. The Hebrew greatly disagrees with the Septuagint translation, and both translations are involved in such great difficulties, both mine and theirs, that if at any time we are in need of the Spirit of God (but we always need His coming in the interpretation of holy Scriptures), now especially we desire Him to be present and to unfold what He has said in the prophets, so that it may also be understood about us, as He deigns to promise elsewhere: Open your mouth, and I will fill it (Ps. LXXX, 11). Moreover, as the history of the kingdom also testifies (1 Samuel 17), Gath is one of the five cities of Palestine, near the border of Judah, and as one travels from Eleutheropolis to Gaza, it is now just a small village or even a large hamlet, where that Philistine giant Goliath, whom David killed in battle, was from. Therefore, because the prophet, or rather the Lord through the prophet, had said, 'I will mourn and wail, I will go stripped and naked; I will make a lament like the dragons and mourn like the ostriches,' since the wound of Samaria is despairing and incurable and had come even to Judah, and had touched the gate of my people Jerusalem, therefore in a voice still lamenting I command: 'Do not announce it in Gath, lest the enemies hear and rejoice; do not weep with tears, that is, do not let even the pain burst forth into sobs; suppress your weeping, lest the adversaries rejoice, lest they have tears in their mouths while their hearts have sorrow; do not go out, but rather sprinkle yourselves with the dust of the ruins in your house, and scatter yourselves with the falling ashes.' Pass through (Al. Passes through) to you, the dwelling of Saphir (which is called beautiful in the Syro-Hebraic language). For Samaria is situated in the most beautiful part of Judaeaea, and is also abundant in resources. It is said to her: O you who dwell in the most fertile region, because you are disgraced and confused, pass through like this, be led into captivity in such a way that, because of the magnitude of your evils, not even a foreigner will hear your voice. Furthermore, what follows: She has not gone out who dwells in Sennam, which means exit, or as Symmachus translates, the abundant dwelling has not gone out, it is said of the same Samaria which is within the gates of Assyria's captivity, and as soon as it moves from its borders, it enters hostile land. The dwelling, as we said above, is abundant and beautiful. Therefore, she who resides (or resided) did not leave by her own will, but was led by force into Assyria. Hence, the neighboring house on the side, which is interpreted as Asel, namely the kingdom of Judah, will receive lamentation from you, which now, in the meantime, after Samaria was captured, has been restored and had God as its defender. But she received lamentation, and she is struck with fear, and her prosperity is weakened, who dwells in Maroth (or Ramoth), that is, in bitterness, or as Symmachus translates, a dwelling that incites bitterness, i.e. a dwelling that causes bitterness; which in Hebrew is called Josebeth Maroth, because of the captivity of the neighboring tribes, for evil comes down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem, for the Assyrians, having laid waste Samaria, also came to Jerusalem, at the time when Rabshakeh was sent to insult, of whom the fourth book of the Kingdoms (2 Kings 18) and Isaiah (Isaiah 36) write more fully. Where it is said that the Assyrian king sent from Lachish to Jerusalem, and afterwards, after Lachish was captured, he passed over to besiege Libnah. Therefore, the city of Lachish, dedicated to idols, will come, and to you the chariot and horsemen of the Assyrians, because the crimes of Israel were also found in you, and you were the beginning of idolatry in Judah: for through you, as through a gate, the impiety of the ten tribes migrated to Jerusalem. But not only will there be tumult over Lachish and chariots, but also over Gath, the metropolis of Philistia, of which I have spoken above: Do not announce it in Gath: for the Assyrian will send his robbers, whom he calls messengers, and will possess the house of idolatry and the city of deceit, which was a snare for the kings of Israel. But as for what follows: 'I will still bring an heir to you, who dwells in Maresa,' he beautifully alluded to the name. For Maresa, which means 'inheritance,' he called the arrival of the enemy against the heirs, and he will come to the city of Odollam, which is Judah, Maresa, that is, inheritance. And Odollam is glorious in its cities of Israel. Finally, Symmachus translated it as follows: 'I will still bring an heir and a dwelling to you in Maresa, until the glory of Israel comes to Odollam,' that is, I will still bring an heir to you and a dwelling in Maresa until the glory of Israel comes to Odollam, that is, you who are glorious among the cities of Israel. And where it is said 'of glory', the genitive case should be in the singular number, 'of this glory', and not in the nominative case, 'of these glories'. Or certainly understand it thus: The captivity of Israel which came to Lachish, and Gath, and Mareshah, will also come to Odollam. And the phrase 'the glory of Israel' should be read more closely, so that the meaning of κατὰ ἀντίφρασιν, 'shame' or 'devastation', may be felt. Furthermore, what we have interpreted above as the inheritance of the city of the prophet Micah, let the reader know in the same verse which we have set down: Therefore He will send envoys over the inheritance of Gath, in Hebrew instead of the inheritance of Gath, Maraseth Gath (also called Morasseth) is placed. Thus far, according to the Hebrew, as much as we were able and as it seemed to us, certainly as we heard from the Hebrews, we have steered our little boat between rocks and sharpest cliffs, which whether it has entered the harbor or is still floating on the sea, it is for the reader's judgment. Now, let us continue with your prayers to other waves, and with the imminent danger of shipwreck on all sides, if we can, let us escape. 'Geth' is interpreted as a press, so those who are in Geth, that is, in a press, thinking that they have gathered the fruits of life and squeezed the juice from the vine of Sorek, are lifted up in pride, not knowing that the cluster of the land of Judah is not found in the borders of foreign nations. Do not boast, says the Lord, you who are in the wine presses: For your vineyard is of Sodom, and your offspring of Gomorrah: And your grapes are of bitterness, and your clusters of gall to you, and the wine of fury of dragons is your wine, the fury of invincible asps. For if you also produce fruit (since your vineyard is not only from Sodom and Gomorrah, but also from Egypt and other enemy nations) the Lord will give your fruit to rust, and your labors to locusts, and He will destroy your vineyards with hail, and your mulberry trees with frost. Do not let the appearance of wine deceive you, and do not say that sweet is bitter: taste your wine carefully, and you will find that it is like the wine of Sorec, the fury of dragons and the venom of asps. Therefore, do not be proud, but humble yourselves under the mighty hand of the Lord, and go to that winepress from which I, who am coming from Edom, am red in my speech, as Isaiah the prophet says: I have trodden the winepress alone, and there is no man from the nations with me. Again, there are those who speak of aliens and others (for the province of the Allophylians has many regions and cities) who, through their evil works and contrary senses, speak against God: 'We have been destroyed, but let us rebuild that which has been destroyed.' Hence they are called the boundaries of impiety, and the people whom the Lord is angry with. It is said to them: 'Do not build with derision from the house in Bachim.' Bachim () in our language means lamentation and weeping. Finally, with the exception of the Septuagint, all have translated κλαυθμὸν, which means weeping. So, who are you then in such works and sentiments that are worthy of tears, do not build up a bad edification, nor consider your understanding as the construction of God, nor build upon sand (Matt. VII), lest when the storm comes and your house collapses, your futile labor may provide laughter for onlookers. Rather, understanding that your edification is worthy of ridicule, sprinkle your heads with its ruins and dust, and repent for wanting to build a house without counsel. It follows: Those who dwell well in their own cities have not gone forth dwelling in Senna. This seems to me to have this meaning: You, who boast in Geth and in Bachim, attempt in vain to build a house worthy of laughter: sprinkle yourselves with dust and repent, because you desired to crush detestable wine and to build a construction contrary to God. But the Church of Christ, which dwells well and possesses churches in the whole world, is joined together by the unity of the Spirit and has the cities of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, and the Apostles. It has not gone forth from its limits, that is, from the holy Scriptures; but it retains the possession that it began; because it dwells in Senna, which is interpreted, as we said above, by Symmachus as abundance; for it has the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with whom all spiritual graces and abundant virtues are. And it is said to her: Let peace be made in your strength, and abundance in your towers (Psalm 121, 7). But you, who dwell near Sennan, that is, near the abundant Church, oh heretics, oh contrary teachings, lament yourselves, because you have built a house for yourselves in mockery, and you have pressed the winepress in pride, not in the Scriptures, but in the vicinity of the Scriptures, a house worthy of not laughter, but lamentation, and you have built it with tears. Where it is joined, lament the house which is next to it, that is, next to Sennan. But also this which is added, it shall receive from you a blow of sorrow, it is said to the same heretics, to whom it is commanded to lament the neighboring house of the Church, that the enemy and avenger devil, to whom they are to be handed over for punishment, himself may inflict blows on them, and may extract from them the pain of wounds for the purpose of evil edification. Which are therefore inflicted, so that they may feel the sins which they have committed, may do penance, and may make the habitation of sorrows an occasion for good things. Whether the Church is indicating its grief because it laments its former sons, and is itself the cause of the salvation of heretics if they wish to return to their mourning mother. Furthermore, what is brought forth: For evils have descended from the Lord upon the gates of Jerusalem: and the Marcionites and Manichaeans use this scripture, because the God of the Law is the creator of evils. Let us say that evils have descended from the Lord, just as the Savior speaks in the Gospel: I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven (Luke X, 18). For just as Lucifer, who rose in the morning (Isaiah 14), fell from heaven and was crushed upon the earth, so too these evils that have fallen from the Lord and have come to the gates of Jerusalem were not evils before they fell; but because they have fallen from the Lord, they have become evils. And so that we may know the snares of evils: they came, he says, to the gates of Jerusalem, which, because they are secure and made of adamant, are closed off by the apostles, to whom the keys of Jerusalem have been entrusted; before these gates the enemies lurk, and those whom they see leaving, they kill. If someone is from Jerusalem, who lives well in his own cities, he does not go out when he dwells in abundance; but he always remains within, and does not go out of its gates, for whoever goes out of them is killed: he is killed by those who rise up in Geth, and dwell in Bachim, and build a house for mockery. Finally, the evils that have descended from the Lord to the gates of Jerusalem only have the noise of chariots and the tumult of horses, and a confused sound in place of the gates of Jerusalem, so that they will kill with their spear anyone they see wandering. After this was written: You who dwell in Lachish are the chief of sin for the daughter of Zion. Lachish is interpreted as 'walk' or 'journey'. And those who went up in their chariots and had horses, and made only empty noise and sound, concerning whom she who dwells well in her cities spoke: these are in chariots and these are on horses: but we will invoke in the name of the Lord our God (Ps. XIX, 8); for they have moved their feet, and have been carried about by every wind of false doctrine (Ephesians IV), and they desired to go out of the Church, which is interpreted as 'watchtower', that is, Zion, the chiefs of sin were the daughters of Zion. And in the same, that is, in Latin, were found the impieties of Israel, which separated the people of God from their former kingdom. Therefore, the leader of sin is the daughter of Zion, who dwells in Lachish, that is, in the worst way of life, constantly wavering in her steps, and the impieties of Israel are found in those who always move their feet and are said to dwell in Lachish. There will also be emissaries sent to the inheritance of Gath: Gath, the worst and the press of poisons, which is built against the house of God, where there are vain houses that have been built for ridicule. And these vanity homes, made in vain, were among the kings of Israel. As far as history is concerned, these are the kings whose sins are written in the Books of Kings and Chronicles: but as far as the anagoge is concerned, they are the princes of heretics and leaders of perverse doctrines; for these homes are vainly built and in vain. And as long as they persevere, until the heirs who are to be brought by the Lord possess them. After this follows: You who dwell in Lachish, the inheritance will come all the way to Odollam. The word 'testimonium' here is interpreted as the act of drawing or taking in water. In Greek, it is more significantly called 'μαρτυρία ἀντλήσεως', meaning the testimony of their drawing. We read in Proverbs: 'If you are wicked, you will alone drink in evil' (Prov. IX, 21). So, what dwells in Lachis, that is, in a very difficult situation, will come to the point of complete exhaustion, which it will completely drain and drink according to the measure of its works. Or certainly it should be distinguished in this way, that what is said, 'you who dwell in Lachis,' refers to the things above, and the order and meaning are as follows: I will bring your heirs from the Church, you who dwell in Lachis, because you will be of the inheritance of the Lord when you have drawn and received what you deserve. I beg the reader at the end of this chapter not to think of it as a necessity, a desire, or a lengthy explanation, but rather to marvel at finding something in such difficult places and not overlooking anything that needs to be said.

1:16

(Verse 16.) Shave and shear the sons of your delights, spread your baldness like an eagle, for captives have been led away from you. LXX: Glory of the daughter of Israel, shave and shear the sons of your delicacy; spread your baldness like an eagle, for captives have been led away from you. This that was spoken by the Seventy, glory of the daughter of Israel, with the daughters adding it, the Hebrews read at the end of the previous chapter. But it is necessary for us, as you have desired, to interpret the Scriptures in the way they are read in the Church, and moreover not to neglect the Hebrew truth. It is therefore said to Israel for the time being according to the letter, so that we may understand that either the ten tribes were taken to Samaria or all Israel together; because the people were led captive, and all Judaea was devastated by the Assyrians and Babylonians, let them assume lamentation and weep for their children. And just as an eagle, which is the queen of birds, loses its feathers at a certain time and remains featherless, so too let Israel cast off all its former glory, with which it was once adorned, and lament for the sons subjected to the power of the enemy. And as for the eagle, it is accustomed to lose its feathers at a certain time, and it is written in the Psalter: 'Your youth will be renewed like the eagle’s' (Ps. 103:5). And the comic poet says in The Self-Tormenter: 'Indeed, it is true, as they say, that the eagle grows old' (Terence, Act III, Scene 2). However, if we want to take this same thing in regard to the present time of the Judean destruction, we will see that all the favor that once flourished with God has completely departed from them. For where is the prophet? Where is the teacher of the Law? Where are the defenses of the angels? Where, on the other hand, is the unexpected (or expected) victory against many by a few? Jerusalem has been bald, losing all the hair of its former glory, and its children, who cried out against the Lord, 'Crucify him, crucify him,' have been led into captivity. I read in the Commentaries of someone that this which is said, to shave and tear over the sons of your delights, can be understood about the condition of humanity: as God to Adam, or to heavenly Jerusalem, to direct conversation. O human soul! O city once the mother of the saints, which you were first in paradise, and you enjoyed the delights of various trees, and you had the most beautiful hair: now since you have been cast down from the heights and brought to Babylon, and you have come to a place of captivity, and you have lost your hair, shave and assume the habit of a penitent, and mourn your sons, mourn your offspring, who is led captive from you.

2:1-5

(Chapter 2—Verse 1 onwards) Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil upon their beds! In the morning light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields, and seize them; houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I am devising against this family an evil from which you cannot remove your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be an evil time. On that day, this parable shall be taken up against you, and a song shall be sung with sweetness, saying: We have been utterly devastated. The portion of my people has been changed. How shall he withdraw from me, when he shall return, who will divide our regions? For this reason, there will be no one sending out a measuring line to the assembly of the Lord. LXX: They have become those who think about labors and do evil in their beds. And together, on the day of the consummation, they will complete them. For they have not lifted up their hands to God, and they have desired fields, and they have plundered the orphan, and they have oppressed houses, and they have seized a man, and his house, a man and his inheritance. Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I am devising evil against this tribe, from which you will not remove your necks, so that you will not walk upright, for it is a time of disaster. In that day a proverb will be taken up against you, and a lamentation with the singing of mournful songs will be sung: We are utterly ruined; my people's portion is measured out with a measuring line, and there is no one to restore it. Our fields are divided up; therefore there will be no one to set a milestone for you in the inheritance. What we have placed at the end of the chapter according to the Hebrew, in the assembly of the Lord, for which the Seventy translated, in the Church of the Lord; according to the Vulgate edition, the beginning of the following chapter is. And therefore, if the Lord permits, we will discuss it. Woe to you, assembly of the Jews, who both plan evil and carry it out. And you defile the sleeping chambers given for rest with lewdness, and whatever wickedness you engage in during the night, as if it were not permissible to delay, you hastily fulfill it as soon as day breaks, not considering that your hand is strong against the Lord. And in order to teach through Scripture what they were thinking at night and doing during the day, he explains in parts. 'They coveted,' he says, 'the fields and forcefully took them; and the houses, it is understood, they coveted and plundered the ones they coveted. And not only did they malign people and their homes, but they also ravaged their descendants who deserved mercy for their tender age with their voracious mouths. Therefore, because you have done these things and thought them useless, I, the Lord, will plan evil against this family. Not that the evil I plan is actually evil, but because it seems evil to those who suffer when I inflict it. And I will afflict you in such a way that you will not be able to lift up your necks and walk proudly, namely those whom the time of captivity has oppressed.'


Then a parable will be spoken against you, and your miseries will be turned into a song: We have been devastated by depopulation, the portion of my people: My temple, which I alone had more than other nations, will be changed into ruin. How will the Assyrian depart from me, when he returns to distribute my fields by lot for himself? Therefore, O family of Israel, against whom I am devising evil, you will not have a portion in the inheritance of the righteous. But even about the final captivity this can be understood, that everything happened to them because they crucified the Lord: in such a way, however, that the version of the Seventy interpreters is discussed. For the glory of the daughter of Israel was stripped, and shaved over the once most delicate sons, and if anything of hair was born afterward, it was immediately cut off and shaved. Then all their plans turned into labor, and what they conceived, with the mind and soul asleep, brought them troubles: and what they did, as soon as the light of Christ and retribution appeared, was disturbed. For when they had read that Israel had conquered, when Moses raised his hands to the Lord, and that Amalek had been defeated when Moses grew weary and lowered his arms (Exodus XVII), they did not lift their hands to the Lord, but committed all kinds of crimes against the poor and the people of the Lord. They desired fields and plundered the houses of orphans, and they ravaged the man and his wife and their children and their possessions. Therefore the Lord planned evil against that tribe: not against the twelve tribes, but against the tribe corrupted by malice and wickedness, who could not lift up their heads or walk uprightly. Finally, up until the present day, they have been subjects of the Roman Empire, and they are burdened by the yoke of captivity, and they do not lift their necks. However, the following phrase, ἐξαίφνης, which means 'suddenly,' is not found in the Hebrew volumes, yet it can correspond with the present passage in such a way that we may say: Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, I am devising evil against this tribe suddenly, from which they cannot lift their necks, and for this reason, they will not be able to lift them, because it is a time of evil. For just as they worked evil against the Lord Jesus, so they will endure the evils of perpetual captivity, and they will come into such great distress that all their songs and psalms will be turned into mourning. And the people will know nothing else to say except for this: we have become wretched in our misery. For the promised land, which had previously been divided by lot among the two and a half tribes beyond the Jordan, with Moses sending the measuring cord and later divided among the remaining tribes by Joshua, has now been divided among the Gentiles under Roman rule. And there is no one to prevent them from ruling over all the nations. Not a single Jew possesses the ancient freedom of their homeland. But if we choose to follow the third exposition, we will see that every thought of ours is labor and sorrow, and our bed is filled with evils, and even the light itself, which seems bright, is mixed with darkness. And whatever we handle at night, we do so in darkness. For which of us can lift holy hands to God without anger and thought? Who does not desire the villas of this age, forgetting the possessions of paradise? You may see others connecting fields with fields and joining boundaries with boundaries, and the small body of a man not being sufficient for the countryside of cities. Therefore the Lord thinks upon us evil things, from which we are unable to lift up our necks, nor to walk upright, because it is a very bad time, according to the words of John saying: The world is placed in the evil one (1 John 5:19). The same thing is signified by that noble soul in the Gospel, the daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound and bowed down, and unless she could be raised up before the coming of the Lord, nor could she look upon her Creator. Then Jesus said: 'Shouldn't this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day?' (Luke 13:16). Therefore, because our glory has been completely diminished and we have extended the shaving or our nakedness (for thus it is found in some codices), those who would lament with Jeremiah and take up a parable against us were sent, saying with the Apostle: 'I will mourn for the many who have sinned and have not repented' (2 Corinthians 12:21). For who would not lament seeing human souls as if they were a diverse collection of furniture possessed by demons and various vices? One demon sends the cord of fornication, another of greed. This one extends the lines of murder, while that one of perjury. The portion of the people of God is divided by a cord. And the fields once holy and like paradise, of which Isaac delighted in the smell, were handed over to the Assyrians and to the Babylonian king. And while foxes have dens and birds have nests, the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head (Matt. 8). I have explained, according to the limitations of my small intelligence, the first captivity of the people by the Assyrians and Babylonians, the second by the Romans who crucified the Lord, and the third spiritual captivity in which each one of us fell from paradise with Adam and is held captive in this world. When the Lord comes, he will raise up the fallen and release the imprisoned (Psalm 144). He will also gather the once captive of the devil into his possession, fulfilling the words of the Psalmist: As he ascended on high, he led captivity captive (Psalm 68:18). According to this explanation, the fourth captivity can also be understood as the Church, from which each person departs through sin, and then, through Ezra, who interprets as helper, that is, through the word of God, is brought back to Jerusalem (1 Esdras 7). However, if someone has been meditating on the Law of the Lord day and night, they have had greater zeal, greater intelligence, leisure, and grace, and they may be able to say something more probable about the present chapter. I do not envy, I do not reject, but rather I desire to learn from him what I do not know, and I will gladly profess myself as his student, as long as he teaches and does not detract. For nothing is so easy as to debate about the work and efforts of others when one is idle and asleep.

2:6-8

(Verses 6-8) Do not speak, speaking ones, for the droppings will not fall upon them, confusion will not overtake them, says the house of Jacob. Has the spirit of the Lord been shortened, or are such his thoughts? Are not my words good when dealing with the one who walks rightly? And yet my people have risen up against me as an adversary, you have lifted up the tunic, the cloak, over those who pass by innocently, and you have turned them into battle. In the church of the Lord, should you not weep with tears, nor should you mourn over them? For he will not reject reproaches, saying, 'The house of Jacob has provoked the spirit of the Lord, if these are his inventions: are not his words good with him, and have they not walked uprightly?' And before, my people resisted against their own peace with enmities: they scraped off its skin, to take away the hope of crushing war. 'Do not speak,' he said, speaking; for which Aquila interpreted: 'Do not be silent, dripping droplets, formerly in the Hebrew idiom, calling the speech that flows and reaches the ears of the hearers, likening it to descending rain, calling it a drip.' Do not let yourselves be deceived, O house of Jacob, and do not say to one another in mutual consolation, God is good: the captivity that we fear will not come. Will his great mercy, his most compassionate spirit, who has risen up widely and abundantly for all, be so limited and severe in us? Or are his thoughts like those that we see in humans, that he holds onto ancient anger and is suddenly stirred up with fury for vengeance? To which the Lord responded: I am certainly good, and my words sound like kindness: but to those who walk the right path. But as for the one who, not just once, but yesterday, revered idols in my dishonor, and as much as he could, seized tyrannical weapons against me, who plundered the unfortunate people with the help of God, and like a garment from above, took away their cloak, who turned even the simplest of believers and those who acquiesce to the authority of their elders into enemies against me, will not the Lord rain down punishment from above and bring confusion upon him? But what we translate as 'Et econtrario populus meus in adversarium consurrexit;' Symmachus translates more openly to say: 'my people rose up against me as an enemy, one day before;' in order to solve the question of why God would not impute past sins to the people, but rather recent ones that seemed like they were committed yesterday. This is according to the Hebrew understanding, but the Septuagint translators do not agree with this interpretation in this passage. For to that which has been said, 'In the Church of the Lord do not weep,' which is a consequence, it is inferred, for he will not reject the reproaches which he says, 'The house of Jacob has provoked the spirit of the Lord.' But also that which follows: 'If these are his inventions: are not his words good with him, and have they not walked uprightly?' What do the following refer to, which are said: 'And my people resisted first, against their own peace, they have flayed his skin, to take away the wound of war?' However, it seems to me that, in a difficult place, the meaning can be rendered or expressed in this way, if the wise reader agrees with our reasoning. Therefore, it is commanded to the Church not to have sadness and concern about worldly matters, and the losses that usually happen in this world, and it is said to the inhabitants of it, O you who are in the Church of the Lord, always rejoice, and whatever judgments may befall you, be glad. I do not say this so that you should not weep; for blessed are those who weep, for they themselves shall laugh (Luke 6:21). But I warn you not to mourn over the things of the world. If someone among your close ones has died, if the treasury has seized your property, if your body is oppressed by gout or any other illness, do not weep, do not shed tears, and do not consider the present, but the future, and be more burdened that you dwell longer in this mortal tent. Rather, be careful not to insult those who have fallen, and do not consider their ruin to be your own accomplishment: let each person measure themselves by their own strength, not the weakness of others. Otherwise, what kind of justice is it to insult the branches of an olive tree with the branches of an olive tree that were broken off due to their unbelief (Rom. XI), and to say, 'The house of Jacob has provoked the spirit of the Lord to anger, killing the prophets, worshiping idols, crucifying the Son of God'? Whoever does this will not be unfamiliar with shame, and the measure by which he judged will be used to judge him. And just as he speaks of the sins of the falling, so another will insult him in his ruin. It follows: If these are his inventions, are not his words good with him, and have they walked uprightly? What offends, he says, the Jewish people, so that the fullness of the Gentiles might enter, is the dispensation of God, so that afterwards, with Israel believing, all might be saved, and all might need God's mercy. And so the Apostle, coming to this place, declares that the depths of wisdom and knowledge and judgments of God are unfathomable. Therefore, if the inventions and thoughts of God are such that the previous branches of the olive tree are broken off, and other branches are grafted in from the wild olive tree, you should not insult, but fear lest you fall, nor should you think that you please God if you read His words, that is, His Scriptures. Then the Scriptures are of benefit to the reader if what is read is fulfilled by deeds. If you can speak about the Scriptures: Are you seeking a proof of Christ speaking in me (II Cor. XIII, 3)? For the Lord will give his word with great power to those who proclaim the Gospel (Ps. LXVII, 12): Ascend to the high mountain, you who proclaim good news to Zion; lift up your voice with strength, you who proclaim good news to Jerusalem (Isai. XL, 9). In this way, the words of God are good if they are accompanied by Him, that is, if God does not abandon the preacher, whose heart and lips are in agreement. Moreover, he who confesses with his lips and his heart is far from God, and narrates his righteousness, and takes his testament on his mouth, and is defiled with the filth of sins, with this, the words of God are not good. Not only of the sinner, but also of him who does not have spiritual grace, that is, of prophecy and doctrine, and interpretation, and the greater charisms, it must be said that if such a man wishes to give reasons for the causes of the elements and for his own faith, and why God, who is good and the Creator of all, came only to the Jews and called the nations in the last age, he does not have good words of God with him; but even those things which are good, he contaminates the words of God, which walk rightly and require righteous ears. And indeed, the Lord commands the people who are his successors and the Church gathered from the nations, not to insult the previous generation and not to be alienated by insulting others. However, it is important to note that he himself, who is the true judge and speaks without disturbance, reveals how in his suffering Israel was against him, and he did this not because the Creator could be harmed by his actions, but because he committed everything against his own peace. Hence, the word came to Jerusalem: If you knew what is for your peace (Luke 19:42). But with peace lost, they stripped off their own skin, that is, they took away from themselves the protection of God, and left themselves like naked flesh without skin and covering, so that whatever appeared beautiful, with the mercy of God covering it from above, would offer ugliness to those who saw it when it withdrew. But with peace and the help of God withdrawing, because they resisted the Lord, of whom it is said: The Lord who breaks wars, the Lord is his name (Judith XVI, 3), they could not resist their adversaries, but in every battle they were defeated, and there was no one to crush the wars that arose against them, on either side of the enemy, or of the men who took them captive, or the strength of their adversaries, who slaughtered their souls daily with blasphemy.

2:9-10

(Versed 9, 10.) You have expelled the women of my people from their delightful homes, and you have taken their praise from their children forever. Arise and go, for you have no rest here, because of your uncleanness. It will be corrupted with the worst decay. The interpretation of the Septuagint (if indeed it is Septuagint; for Josephus writes, and the Hebrews affirm, that only five books of the law of Moses were translated by them and given to King Ptolemy, or rather contradicted) differs so greatly in this passage from the Hebrew truth, that we cannot put the chapters equally nor explain their meanings together. Therefore, let us first discuss our translation, and afterwards we will come to the same points. This is still in opposition to the people of God, of whom he had already said: On the contrary, my people have risen up against me as an adversary: you have taken away their outer garment, not only that, but also the women, that is, the once delicate matrons, have made them go as captives, or under the metaphor of the cities of Judea, which he also calls the daughters of Zion in Isaiah (Isaiah 26), because Zion was the metropolis. You have also taken away the praise of them from their little ones, he says, forever, there remained no one in the people, all being either killed or captured, who would sing my psalms; but even the few who remained in Babylon testify that they cannot sing. How, they say, shall we sing the song of the Lord in a foreign land (Ps. 136:4)? Arise and go into captivity, for in this land you shall not have rest, which has been defiled because of your sins, and it cannot be cleansed unless it has first observed a long sabbath. Therefore I say to you, you do not have rest here, because your land is polluted, and it will be corrupted with the worst decay, namely captivity, whether Babylonian or Roman, because it has shed the blood of the Lord: for it can be understood according to the truth of both histories.

LXX: The leaders of my people will be cast out from their luxurious homes; they have been rejected because of their wicked inventions. This can be understood both generally of the leaders, priests, and Pharisees of the Jewish people, who were cast out of their city of luxury after the passion of the Lord, where they had previously indulged in wicked inventions, and specifically of the lineage of David, because as soon as the Lord was born, the prince of Judah failed, and the ruler from his loins, who was awaited by the nations, came. But even the leaders of the Church who abound in pleasures, and believe that they can preserve their chastity amid feasts and revels, are described by the prophetic word as being expelled from spacious houses and luxurious banquets, and from meals acquired with great effort, and expelled on account of their evil thoughts and deeds. And if you want to know where they will be expelled to, read the Gospel: Into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 22:13). (Is it not a confusion and disgrace to preach Jesus crucified, the master, poor and hungry, while gorging on well-fed bodies, and to proclaim the doctrine of fasting with blushing cheeks and bloated mouths? If we are in the place of the Apostles, let us not only imitate their speech, but also embrace their conduct and abstinence.) It is indeed holy and the ministry of the Apostles to serve widows and the poor (Acts 6:2). They say that it is not fitting, with the word of God dismissed, to serve ourselves at the table. But now I am not speaking of the poor, I am not speaking of brothers, and those who cannot invite in return (from whom, except for the favor, the episcopal hand hopes for nothing else), but rather soldiers and those girded with a sword, and judges, with centurions and troops standing guard before their doors, the priest of Christ invites to the meal. The whole clergy runs through the city: they seek to display to judges what they cannot find in their own praetoriums, or certainly what they have found but do not buy. Nor indeed should it be thought that this invective is directed generally at everyone; but rather that the prophetic discourse strikes those who are such, and threatens them with punishments and eternal darkness: so that those who are not bound by shame and modesty may at least take action in repentance through the threat of punishment.

LXX: Approach the eternal mountains. By eternal mountains, we can understand either angels or prophets, about whom it is also written in the psalm: His foundations are on the holy mountains (Ps. 86:1). And in another place: I lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come? (Ibid. 120:1). But he approaches the eternal mountains who is not separated from the company of the blessed by his own sins, just as Moses approached God, not by place, but by merit. And to those who approached the eternal mountains, the Lord himself spoke. I am a God who is near, and not a God from afar (Jer. XXIII, 23). But the eternal mountains are called so to distinguish them from those that are not eternal, namely the beginning of the dark mountains of this world, which when they are raised up like the cedars of Lebanon and pass away with the world, their place cannot be found.

LXX: Arise and walk, for there is no rest for you here. We are commanded to think of no rest in worldly things; but, as if rising from the dead, to strive for the heavenly, and to walk after our Lord God, and to say: My soul clings to you (Ps. 62:9). But if we neglect and refuse to listen to the one saying: Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you (Eph. 5:14), we will indeed sleep, but we will be deceived, and we will not find rest because where Christ does not illuminate one rising up, what appears to be rest is tribulation.


LXX: Because of uncleanness, you have been consumed by corruption. For what we have said, you have been consumed; according to the Greek understanding, in Latin it can sound as 'you have been corrupted', so that there is order, because of uncleanness you have been corrupted by corruption. However, this is said to those who, serving the pleasure of the body and lust, corrupt not only the soul but also their own body, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God. He could also say, because of your uncleanness, you were corrupted, and even your understanding would have been filled without corruption. But now, because he says, you are corrupted by corruption, it seems to me that he is speaking of beneficial corruption. Along the lines of which the Apostle also speaks: And if our outward man is corrupted, yet the inward man is renewed day by day (II Cor. IV, 16). The one who always carries the death of Jesus in his body, and corrupts the external man, and subjects the flesh to the control of the soul, he is indeed corrupted, but not by corruption, because his corruption is of a beneficial nature.


You fled, with no one pursuing. It is said of those who, because of the filth of corruption, have been corrupted, that their conscience, even without punishment, does not dare to resist enemies and fight.

And so, they are expelled from the camp and repelled from the battle line, in order to not terrify the minds of their brethren, the fearful ones in the battle of the saints (Deut. 20), and in the curses of Leviticus, a word is directed towards such men: The voice of a flying leaf shall pursue you, and you shall flee, with none pursuing you (Lev. 26:36). I know that I have read in certain commentaries, explaining the beginning of the Gospel of John: All things were made through him, and without him was made nothing, that they have attributed this saying, 'nothing,' to wickedness, and furthermore, that they have interpreted wickedness itself as the devil, and in that same sense, they have understood that which was made without Christ, as nothing, as the devil. Therefore, if malice or the devil is nothing, and those who have been corrupted by corruption have fled, with no one, that is, nothing pursuing, the devil has pursued them into nothingness. But if this seems too forced to anyone, and contrary to the simplicity of Scripture, let him rather follow the skill of speech than a true interpretation, or let him follow the former exposition or any other he may discover.

2:11-12

(Verse 11, 12.) I wish I were not a man with a spirit, and I spoke lies instead. I will pour for you into wine and into drunkenness, and this people on whom it is poured will be overcome. I will gather Jacob together, I will gather all of you: I will bring the remnants of Israel together.

And in this chapter, the Septuagint interpreters differ greatly from Hebrew. Therefore, let us first explain according to what has been handed down to us by the Hebrews, and then, if the Lord wills, we will discuss their translations. O Jewish people, to whom belong the promises, the covenants, the law, and from whom Christ came according to the flesh (Rom. 9), to whom, facing the imminent Babylonians or Romans, I have said: Rise up and go into captivity, for there is no rest for you in this land, which will be devastated by its own wickedness in the final destruction. Do not think that I am unwilling to speak and preach joyfully, for I see the coming of the Lord. I myself would wish to be accursed for the sake of my brethren, the Israelites (Rom. 9:3). I wish I could speak of my own understanding, and not have the Holy Spirit; and be counted among the false prophets, and perish alone, and not have the things I say be true: and such a multitude would believe in the Son of God, and not be handed over to eternal captivity. But because I speak with the spirit of prophecy, and am sent from divinity (or truth), I proclaim the truth: therefore I will pour out my words to you like bitter wine that intoxicates you and makes you fall. But while I am still dripping, and singing of the evil of the future captivity, this people will receive my rain, whether they want it or not, for it has the capability to endure what I say. And do not think, that I am only a prophet of evils (although great evils indeed), for now the predicted captivity will come; but behold, in me the word speaks, a word that is applicable to all the prophets. For when the prophet is silent, he does not speak, and now he says: I will come, and I will assume a human body, I will be born of a Virgin. Either this: Because I came in the humility of flesh, and you did not believe in me, I will come in the consummation of the world in my majesty with the angels and other powers, and then I will gather you, Jacob, completely. Then I will bring together the remnants of Israel and join them together with the people of the nations in my fold. Then I will surround you with a most strong wall, and there will be such a multitude of believers and such a commotion among the sheepfold that the number of sheep will be overcome by the abundance. Lest you possibly think, because I said, I will place him like a flock in a sheepfold, and like a herd in a stable, that I am speaking of sheep, understand that these sheep are men. For it follows: They will be troubled by the multitude of men. Tumult is the voice of many, and the shout of an excessive multitude equally emitted: let us not think it is the voice of one man, but the common voice of all, praising the good shepherd, who has leveled every difficulty and made it equal with his foot, he himself is the gate of paradise, and says: I am the gate: by which, dividing and preceding the journey, and the gate of the way, the believing flock will pass through him. But this shepherd is a king and Lord. Hence follows: And their king shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them. And if we wish to understand all these things about His first coming, and the whole of Jacob and the remnant of Israel as signifying the apostles, and that multitude saved out of the Jews which is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, we shall not depart from the truth in the interpretation of the expositor. For the Lord has truly gathered these together in His sheepfold, and has placed them in the midst of the folds, and has gone before them, and has brought them into the Church, and has been their king before them, and shall be the Lord at the head of them for ever.


LXX: The spirit establishes a falsehood. It drips into wine and drunkenness, and it will be from the drop of this people, Jacob will be gathered together. Not, as many think, the spirit stood as a liar; but the spirit establishes a falsehood, it is read, which in Greek is called πνεῦμα ἔστησε ψευδὲς, that is, deception. Just as in putrid wounds, so that cancer does not spread and devour the dead flesh, doctors establish and burn the wound with a cautery, or with a caustic powder: in the same way, the spirit of God has set a limit to falsehood, so that the people of God are not overthrown by the voices of false prophets. But the Spirit, wherever it is mentioned without addition, should be understood in a good sense, as we have often said, and now we will partially explain, so that no one should be in doubt. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace (Galatians 5:22). And: If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit (Galatians 6:25). And elsewhere: But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Romans 8:13). And in the Old Testament: Giving breath to the people who are in it, and spirit to those who tread on it (Isaiah XLII): without doubt from what comes before that it signifies the earth. For those who trample earthly works and subject them to their feet, certainly deserve to receive not an evil, but a good spirit. On the contrary, an evil spirit is always read with an additional clause, as in this passage: But when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man (Matthew XII, 43). And in another place: He rebuked the unclean spirit (Luke 9:43). And: An evil spirit came upon Saul (1 Samuel 16:14), and similar things to these. Therefore, the Spirit of God, who puts an end to deceit in false prophets, will pour into you wine and drunkenness. Wine that gladdens the heart of man (Psalm 104); and drunkenness with which Noah was intoxicated, and of which it is said: Eat, O friends, and drink until drunk (Song of Solomon 5:1). But all this joy and drunkenness, in comparison to the wisdom of God, is like a heavenly river that waters Jerusalem, it is a drop, and a very small drop. The wisdom of God will not hesitate to call a drop in men, those who have gathered a stone cut from a mountain without hands (Dan. II), and the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the Apostles themselves have known in part, and have prophesied in part (I Cor. XIII, 9). Therefore, concerning this wisdom, that is, concerning the tribe of the Jewish people (for He came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel), Jacob was gathered: every one who supplants Esau and steals his birthright and blessing, and even before he is born, in his mother's womb, he attacks the heel of his hairy brother.

LXX: When I receive the remnant of Israel with all the Gentiles, and the entire world is brought to my faith, and the fullness of the Gentiles enters, then the remnant of Israel will also be saved, not those remnants about which it is written in the Book of Kings: I have left for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed their knees to Baal (3 Kings 19:18). And concerning them, Paul says: Therefore, even in this present time, the remnants according to the election of grace have been saved (Romans 11:5); concerning whom, the prophet testifies above: And he will gather together the remnant of his people from this drop of water, Jacob will be gathered together. But those remaining, who after all have been received, will be received in the end by God. And concerning them it is now said: 'Gathering the rest of Israel, I will surely receive all, just as it is written: God will conclude all under sin, and have mercy on all.' (Rom. 11:32).

LXX: I will make their destruction like that of sheep in distress. The remaining ones of Israel, whom I will take in after I have taken in all, I will take in: now in the meantime, because they have turned away from me, I will put them in distress, and I will oppress them, and I will make them sit, without priest, without altar, and without prophet: so that those whom they did not perceive through blessings, they may understand through punishments.

LXX: Like a flock in the midst of their fold: it is understood, I will set. Not only, he says, will their aversion, by which they have turned away from me, be set like a flock in tribulation; but after they have been troubled and the time of distress has been completed, they will be set at rest, that is, in their fold. And then (now) they will migrate from men and surpass the state of human condition, and fulfill what follows: They will rise up from among men. Not only they will leap out and go away, but all those to whom the word of God comes, and who, forsaking human vices, imitate the behavior of the divine, and hear: I said, you are gods, and all of you children of the Most High, they will leap out from among men, and be carried as if to heaven.

LXX: Ascend by division. The present passage has a sort of proper beginning and apostrophe of prophetic discourse, speaking to someone who wishes to be saved and commanding them to ascend by division. This will be made clearer if we take an example from Genesis, where twins are born to Tamar, with whom the patriarch Judah had relations: 'And it came to pass, when she travailed, that one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.' But when he withdrew his hand, his brother came out, and she said, 'Why has the wall been divided because of you?' And she called his name Perez, which means division. And after this his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and she called his name Zerah, which in our language means seed or east (Gen. XXXVIII, 27, seqq.). Therefore, the elder people showed with their hand, in which there was origin and seed before the Church was born from the nations, and afterwards they withdrew it, hearing the words of Isaiah: For your hands are full of blood (Isai. I, 15). And when he pulled back his hand, and ceased from the works of justice, his brother went out among the nations. And because of him the fence was divided, and the Lord and Saviour destroyed the wall in the middle, and the barrier that separated two peoples: and he made one flock, and in himself he created two, making peace in the new man. Hence the prophetic midwife speaks to the younger people, saying to Phares: Why was the wall divided because of you? If you understand the example from Genesis, ascend to be saved not through the old people who have a contracted hand, but through the new people, in whom is the way of Christ, in whom is the door Jesus, through whom we walk toward the Father, for he himself broke through the middle wall and partition, that is, the darkness of the old prophets, and opened all the sacraments of the ancient Law, and by dispelling the difficulty of walking, revealed the way to the eyes of all: so that whoever wants to proceed is not entangled by any obstacle, nor is he terrified by the darkness of obscurity.


LXX: Before their face they divided and passed through the gate, and went out through it. Their king went out before their face: but the Lord their prince (Heb. shall be) before them. Therefore I said to you: Ascend through the division, you who have risen with Christ, and seek those things that are above: because the Angels, whether the Father and Son, and Holy Spirit, have divided what seemed to obstruct, and have made a way for those who wish to enter, and because they have invaded the path, not only have they entered the gate, but they have also passed through it. But they entered because their king also entered the same gate, and he opened for them the way, so that they could walk without any difficulty. For he himself is the Lord, and king, and shepherd, and the way and the gate, and he says: I am the gate: through me whoever enters will be saved: he will enter and he will go out, and he will find pastures. (John 10:9). Concerning this gate, it is also prophesied elsewhere: This is the gate of the Lord, the righteous shall enter through it. (Psalm 127:20). But whoever enters, should not remain in the state in which they entered; but should go out to the pastures, so that in entering there may be a beginning, in going out and in finding pastures, there may be the perfection of virtues. Whoever enters is still in the world, and through creatures understands the Creator. But whoever goes out, transcends the whole creation, and considering all that can be seen as nothing, will find pastures above the heavens, and will feed on the word of God, and will say: The Lord feeds me, and I shall lack nothing (Psalm 23:1). This is why, in order to understand the Gospel testimony: He will enter and He will go out, and will find pasture; and what is now said through the Prophet: And they passed through the gate, and went out through it: which passage and going out, however, cannot be attributed to our king and Lord Christ, who is king and Lord. For immediately it is connected: But the Lord shall be the Prince.

3:1-4

(Chapter III, verses 1 and following) And I said: Listen, leaders of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel. Is it not for you to know judgment, you who hate good and love evil, who violently take off their skin from them, and their flesh from their bones, who have eaten the flesh of my people, and have stripped off their skin from them, and have broken their bones and cut them up like meat in a pot. Then they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have acted wickedly in their deeds. Clearly, this speech is directed against the princes of Israel, and under the metaphor of lions or robbers, their cruelty is described: that they have plundered the poor, killed them, broken their flesh and bones, and afflicted the miserable people of Jerusalem as if in the midst of a pot. And because of these things, punishment will be brought upon them later on the day of captivity, either by Nebuchadnezzar or by Vespasian and Titus. And they cry out to the Lord, but He does not hear them, and He hides His face from them, because they have acted wickedly in their crimes.

LXX: And he will say: Listen to these things, leaders of the house of Jacob, and the rest of the house of Israel. The idea clings to what precedes. For he had said before: But the Lord will be a leader, and he will say: Listen, leaders of the house of Jacob, and the rest of the house of Israel. Regarding the rest of the house of Israel, except for the Seventy, all the leaders of the house of Israel have passed away. Therefore, the Lord who made a way for his people, and went before them, is the leader of the simpler journey of the people, whom he calls a flock: to those who do not want to follow the easier path, but act arrogantly, and do not follow the footsteps of that judge of the people, he threatens and says: Listen, leaders of the house of Jacob, and leaders of the house of Israel. But why is it that they are determined to hear? It is not your place, he says, to know judgment, you who hate good and seek evil: that is, you do not deserve to understand the judgment that is a bottomless pit; and the twisted mind of justice does not find the depths of his righteousness. Or how can you know the judgment of God, you who hate good, how can you know the judgment of God, you who hate good and seek evil, you who detest the holy poor, and honor sinful rich? At the same time, let us consider the significance of words: to not love good is a sin; how great a wickedness is it to even hate? And conversely, if one does not flee from evil, it is a fault; how great an impiety is it to even diligently inquire? After this, the cruelty of judges is described, and the cruelty towards those who are subject.

LXX: They will take their skins from them, and their flesh from their bones. Just as they devoured the flesh of my people, and peeled the skin from them, and broke their bones, and cut them up like meat in a kettle, so they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not listen to them, and he will turn his face away from them at that time, because they have acted wickedly in their inventions. It was not enough to plunder the helpless flock; they also afflicted their bodies with a harsh rule, and broke their bones, so that they would break and crush whatever happened to be in them. So how they plundered my people and stripped them of all beauty and adornment of skin, and put flesh and bones into a boiling pot, which the Assyrian king lit, delivering my flock to the devil and his angels: so they themselves, when the day of vengeance comes, will cry out to the Lord, and they will not be heard, because they did not hear those who were praying: and they will stretch out their hands to the Lord, and God will turn his face away from them, because they also turned their face away from those who were praying. And all these things suffer, because they acted very badly in their studies and pleasures: and they were not kings, but tyrants: not leaders, but lions: not masters of disciples, but wolves of sheep, and they satisfied themselves with flesh, and they became fat, and like the fattest victim of slaughter, and prepared for the punishments of the Lord. So far against evil rulers: but the following discourse is against false prophets and very bad teachers, who deceive the people of God with flattery, promising knowledge of the Scriptures.

3:5-8

(V. 5 seq.) This is what the Lord says about the prophets who deceive my people: they bite with their teeth and proclaim peace. But if someone does not give them something to eat, they declare war against him. Therefore, night will be for you instead of a vision and darkness instead of divination. The sun will go down on the prophets and the day will be darkened for them. Those who see visions will be put to shame, and the diviners will be confounded. They will all cover their faces because there is no answer from God. However, I am filled with the power of the spirit of the Lord, with justice and strength, to proclaim Jacob's wickedness and Israel's sin. LXX: Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who deceive my people, who bite with their teeth and proclaim peace, but there is no word from their mouths. They have sanctified a battle against him. Therefore, night shall be to you instead of vision, and darkness instead of divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them. Those who see dreams shall be confused, and the soothsayers shall be mocked. All these will speak against them because there is no one who listens to them. Only I will fill them with the power of the spirit of the Lord, with justice and strength, to proclaim Jacob's wickedness and Israel's sins. We read that there were false prophets in Israel, who, because they lacked the gift of peace, which was not given to them, preached, and if someone did not give gifts, even if he was holy, they would announce that the wrath of God would come upon him. Therefore, it is now said to them that they speak falsehoods, and their words are not prophecy, but false divination: they do not have light, but darkness and error. And when the opposite of what they promised is fulfilled, then they will be covered in confusion, because, it is said, there was no answer from God.


Now neither can the power of demons deceive, to deceive them by their own deceit. The oracles will be silent, the unclean spirit will be silent, and it will not dare to mock. This is about false prophets. Again, a speech is introduced about the prophet speaking of himself, while they falsely predict, and with confusion and disgrace hidden, I, who speak, speak from the Holy Spirit, and I speak the judgment of the Lord and the power of truth. And when false prophets bite with their teeth and proclaim peace, I fearlessly proclaim the wickedness of Jacob and the sin of Israel; for they have worshipped either idols or crucified the Son of God. But if we wish to follow the Septuagint, which is said concerning heretics who are truly false prophets and say, 'Thus says the Lord,' and the Lord did not send them, we will not be led astray. For they deceive the people of God by their former error, and they do this in order to consume them, either simply by accepting gifts or mystically in the slaughter of their souls, and they promise them peace and heavenly kingdoms and say, 'You do not need to live constantly and holy, have faith in what we teach and you will attain all the promises of the Lord.' Those who speak these things, rather than appeasing the wrath of the Lord, actually provoke it and sanctify the battle against them. Therefore, O heretics, who think you have prophecy, and you imitate the Church of God, where you deem there to be vision, there it will harm you; and where you boast of prophetic prediction, there the unclean spirit will speak. For the sun of justice will kill such prophets, and they will see their darkness and be confounded. And when they are shown to be more divine than prophets, they will laugh at their dreams, and the people who were previously deceived by them will speak against them. Then even the teachers themselves will repent, and no one will listen to them except me whom they have offended. And because I am merciful and do not desire the death of the sinner (Ezek. XVIII), but rather want them to turn back and live, when I hear them, I will give them the power of my spirit, and I will fill them with my judgment and strength, so that those who previously deceived the people with flattery will later deter them by proclaiming the truth and lead them back to the right path, and those who were the cause of error will begin to heal the wounds they have inflicted and become a source of healing. Take note, in the present place, that someone can be taught after sin, if indeed they have washed away their previous sins with worthy penance. Hence, even David speaks after adultery and murder in the psalm: You will sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be cleansed; You will wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. He is not satisfied with his own purity alone, but adds: Restore to me the joy of your salvation and strengthen me with a generous spirit. And when you have done this, he says, I will teach the wicked your ways, and the impious will be converted to you (Psalm 50).

3:9-12

(Verse 9 onwards) Hear this, rulers of the house of Jacob, and judges of the house of Israel: you who abhor justice and pervert all that is right, who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity. Its rulers give judgment for a bribe, its priests teach for a fee, its prophets divine for money, yet they lean upon the Lord and say, 'Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.' Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field, Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height. LXX: Hear this, you leaders (or judges) of the house of Jacob and the remnant of the house of Israel, who despise justice and pervert all that is right; who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity. Its leaders make judgments for a bribe, its priests teach for a price, and its prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the Lord and say, 'Is not the Lord in our midst? No disaster will come upon us.' Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will be a watchman's hut, and the mountain of the Lord will be a wooded hill. No one doubts that Jerusalem, because of the crimes described in this chapter, was overthrown, and that a warning had preceded to either the judges or the false prophets: Listen, leaders of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel. And after a few verses: Thus says the Lord about the prophets who deceive my people, and the rest: now, generally and against the judges, and against the false prophets, and against the priests, and against those who promised themselves knowledge of God, the prophetic discourse is woven, and it accuses them that because of their crimes, Zion will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will collapse like a heap of stones, and the mountain of the temple will become a high forest. We see the fulfillment of what was said: the eloquence of the lips is proven by the eyes; the testimony of prophecy is seen. This very testimony is also written in the volume of Jeremiah (Jer. 26), where mention is made of the prophet Micah and the devastation of Jerusalem. The judges and rulers of the house of Jacob, and the house of Israel, that is, the twelve tribes, not only did not administer justice, but they abhorred it and twisted everything that was right, so that not even a little justice remained in the city. Those who built Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity, plundering the poor, killing the innocent, and slaying the saints. And if any of the princes seemed to judge what was right, they would sell their verdict, and they would judge based on bribes. The priests also did not teach the people unless they received payment; and when it is said to the holy ones, 'You have received for free, give for free' (Matt. X, 8), they, bringing forth money as payment, sold the grace of the Lord for a greedy wage. And after these evils, not understanding their sin, they would pretend to redeem the love of God with their wickedness, saying that they were judges, priests, and prophets of God, and according to their unrepentant heart they would say: The Lord is among us, and no evils will come upon us. Therefore, because they did not repent, and the entire people followed the vices of the leaders, priests, and prophets, Zion will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become a heap of stones, and the temple, which once shone with gold and silver, will collapse into complete ruin. These things happened against the Jewish people, whose true captivity and extreme destruction, and not only because of previous crimes, but especially because of the shedding of the Lord's blood, were inflicted. Hence Zion was plowed like a field, and Jerusalem was turned into mounds of stones, and that once noble and towering temple was reduced to ashes. But if anyone applies these things that are said about Jerusalem and Zion to the Church (for it is indeed the house of Jacob and the house of Israel, according to what is written in Isaiah: 'Jacob, my servant, I will uphold him' - Isaiah 41:8), And that to Timothy: That you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church (1 Tim. 3:15), this will clearly see that the rulers of the house of Jacob, and the rest from the house of Israel (or, as it is better written in Hebrew) the judges of the house of Israel, are none other than bishops, presbyters, and deacons, who, unless they diligently keep their hearts guarded, abhor judgment and overturn all that is right: for when they judge according to the person, and in the dispute of a case the merit of the cause does not hold, but the power of the offenders, do they not abhor judgment and pervert all that is right? But it can also be understood in another way, that the leaders of the house of Jacob and the judges of the house of Israel detest and reject judgment, turning away from the judgment of God and distorting every rule of the Scriptures with evil interpretations. These people build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with wickedness. For when Scripture commands: 'Do not bring the wicked into the dwelling of the righteous' (Psalm 5), and the Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit: whoever ordains clerics from among their followers and exposes their way of life as a scandal to the people, they are guilty of the unfaithfulness of those who are scandalized (Matthew 18). Where it is said to be expedient for a man, that a millstone be tied around his neck and be thrown into the depth, so as to scandalize one of the least of the Church. And when the prophet Malachi calls the priests angels (Malachi 2), and their mouth is the oracle of the Lord (Deuteronomy 19), they judge without accepting bribes, reading: Gifts blind even the eyes of the wise, and like a bridle on the mouth turn away reproof (Ecclesiasticus 20); and when it is said to the apostles: Do not possess gold, or silver, or brass in your belts (Matthew 10, 9): and let money earned even through labor be cast out of the hands of a holy man, they sell the words of the Lord, and buy doves in the temple. But even the prophets of Jerusalem practiced divination for money, not realizing that prophecy and divination are two different things: for divination is never regarded favorably in the Scriptures. 'There is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel,' says the augur (Num. 23:23). The prophets thought they were prophesying, but because they accepted money, their prophecy became divination. The Apostle Peter declared, 'Silver and gold I do not have' (Acts 3:6). He could have sold what Simon Magus was seeking, or he could have pretended to sell it (for the Holy Spirit cannot be bought or sold), but Peter condemned the money offered to him along with the offerer (Acts 8). Now you see that the prophets of Jerusalem do not have prophecy in their mouths; but they rest in the Lord and say: No evil will come upon us. Their cause, which is God's watchtower, is divided by the hostile plow; and the once peaceful place is filled with ruins, and the temple of the Lord is turned into thorns and thistles, and it becomes a dwelling place for beasts. Let no one be moved by what we read in the first book of Kings, when Saul wanted to go to Samuel and said to his servant that he could not go because he did not have the price to offer for the prophecy. And the servant replied: Behold, I have found in my hand a quarter of a shekel of money, and I will give it to the man of God, and he will tell us our way. For it is not written that Samuel received, or that they offered him, but rather they are fed by the prophet and invited to a meal. But let him receive, the stakes of the tabernacle are more to be valued than the gifts of prophecy. For a shekel is worth twenty obols, and a quarter shekel is worth five obols. And therefore, if our priests want to sell prophecy and offer doves in their chairs, which the Lord overturned with a whip (John 2), let them receive five obols, not the prices of villas. This is also stated in the third book of the Kings, when the wife of Jeroboam, her son being sick, goes to the man of God Achias, and brings him bread and raisins, and a little jar of honey (3 Kings 14). For it is said what she carried with her, and yet it is not written that the prophet received it: for even though he rebuked her and predicted the coming sorrow, those who were accustomed to go to soothsayers (because there were many diviners and soothsayers in Israel) could have mistakenly assumed the same about the prophets, and wished to offer to holy men what they were accustomed to offer to the gods, and to only recount what the prophets desired, without actually bringing what they themselves were either daring to offer or the prophets to receive. The Apostle Paul: Those who serve the altar, he says, partake of the altar and live by it (1 Corinthians 9:13). It is permitted for you, O priest, to live by the altar, not to indulge in luxury. The mouth of the ox that treads out the grain is not muzzled (ibid., 9). We know these things, and yet the Apostle does not abuse this permission: he is content with food and clothing. He labors night and day with his own hands so as not to be a burden to anyone. And he swears in his letters that he has lived in a holy and unselfish manner in the gospel of Christ, and not only of himself, but also of his disciples. He asserts that he has not sent anyone to ask for anything from the churches, nor has he desired to receive anything (1 Thessalonians 3). But if he rejoices in certain Epistles, and calls the gifts of those who send them the kindness of God, he does not collect them so much for himself as for the poor of the saints, who were in Jerusalem. But the holy poor, these were in Jerusalem, who first believed in Christ from the Jews, and were driven out by their parents and relatives, as well as by their affinities, wasting both possessions and all the furnishings of the temple, and had lost everything. If they are such poor people, let them receive. But if a few houses become enriched under the guise of the poor, and we eat gold with glass and clay dishes, or exchange treasures and clothing, or if a poor person does not seek the riches of senators in their attire. What profit is there in not having a linen cloth around the neck to wipe away sweat? What good is it to be a monk and prefer poverty in dress, when our purse is envied by the entire crowd of the poor? Because of this, the reason for our existence, we who are such, who build Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity, who judge for bribes, who answer for rewards, who divine in money, and claiming a false sanctity for ourselves, we say: No evil will come upon us. Let us heed the judgment of the Lord that follows: Zion and Jerusalem, and the mountain of the temple, a watchtower, and a vision of peace, and the temple of Christ in its fulfillment, and in the end, when charity grows cold, and faith becomes rare, as if a field were plowed and turned into mounds, and it will become a high forest or a keeper of fruits: so that where once there were spacious houses and countless heaps of grain, there will scarcely be a small hut preserving the appearance of food, providing nourishment for those who have none.

4:1-7

(Chapter IV - Verses 1 onwards) And it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; he shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. On that day, says the Lord, I will gather the lame and gather her whom I have driven away, and the one whom I have afflicted; I will make the lame a remnant, and the one who was cast off a strong nation; and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on and forever. And in the last days, the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come and say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; he shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all the peoples walk, each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. But we will go in the name of the Lord our God forever and beyond. In that day, says the Lord, I will gather her who was crushed, and her who was cast out, I will receive, and those whom I had rejected: and I will make the crushed into a remnant, and the cast out into a strong nation, and the Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion, from now and forever. For the leaders of Judah have despised justice, and have perverted all that is right, and have built Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity: and not only have they done these things, but they have also judged for bribes, and the priests of Jerusalem have answered for payment, and her prophets have divined for money, and because of them, Zion was like a plowed field, and Jerusalem had fallen into heaps of stones, and the mountain of the temple of God, desolate among the high forests. Therefore now, their house is abandoned and deserted, when the Son of God, going out of the temple, said: Rise, let us go hence (John 14:31): And: Your house shall be left to you desolate (Luke 13:15). The angels also, with Joseph reporting, said: Let us go forth from our abodes, for the mountain of Zion is exalted, of which it is said to the prince of Tyre. And you were wounded on the mountain of the Lord (Ezek. XXVIII). But this mountain of the Lord was revealed in the last days, when the kingdom of heaven was drawing near. For in the consummation of the ages, for the condemnation of sinners, our Savior appeared through his sacrifice, and he came at the eleventh hour to hire workers. And completing His passion, John says: It is the last hour (1 John 2:18): in six thousand years, if five hundred years are divided by the hours of each day, the last hour will consequently be called the time of the faith of the Gentiles. And it will be made manifest, he says, the mountain of the Lord prepared upon the tops of the mountains. It will be made manifest, which was previously hidden, and prepared not only in the mountains, but upon the tops of the mountains, Moses and the Prophets, who prophesied about Him. For although they have written all things holy, nevertheless, in comparison to the prophecy in which they foretold the coming of the Savior, all other things are humble and do not reach to the top of the mountains. And it is said, 'He will be exalted upon the hills.' (Philippians 2:8-9) Indeed, he appeared as a man and took on the form of a servant; he humbled himself unto death, even death on a cross. But the Father exalted him and gave him a name that is above every name, and the whole life of mankind, compared to his way of life, is called fields and valleys. So to this mountain, which is prepared on the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills, all people will hasten, or as it is written in Hebrew, all the people will flow, that is, in the manner of rivers, innumerable crowds will gather. But the people will hasten when the Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya which are near Cyrene, and Roman visitors, Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs will have believed in him together. Do they not seem to you to have hurried to the mountain, to whom it was said: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matt. 4:19-20), and they immediately followed the Savior? And again, the Scripture relates about James and John, that having left the boat and father and the waves of the world, they hurried to the mountain. And when Matthew the tax collector heard: Follow me (Matt. 9), he immediately ran. And that too in the Gospel, when great crowds from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and beyond the Jordan followed him, and he healed them, he approves the peoples who hurried. But as the people hasten, many nations will also go to the mountain: indeed, the whole world believing in it, and they will say to the standard, mutually challenging themselves to the gallows: Come, let us ascend to the mountain of the Lord. Ascension is necessary in order for anyone to be able to reach Christ, and to the house of God of Jacob, the Church, which is the house of God, the pillar and foundation of truth. Moreover, what Jacob signifies the Savior, as we have said: Jacob, my servant, I will uphold him (Isaiah 2:3). But they will also say to those to whom they had spoken: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and they will add: So that they may show us His way, which we either understand in the Angels who are present in the Churches, or in the holy Scriptures, which show the way of the Lord, and Him who says: I am the way (John 14). And let us walk in His paths, namely in the Apostles, through whom we have believed in Christ. For from Zion a spiritual law has come forth, and the word of God has passed from Jerusalem to the nations, who He will judge among many peoples (John 5:22): For the Father has given all judgment to the Son. And he shall rebuke many nations unto a great distance (Ps. XCIII, 11): For the Lord takes hold of the wise in their craftiness, and he understands the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile. But he shall judge among the peoples who are deserving of salvation, and those who are unworthy, and at his coming all zeal for war shall be directed towards peace (Isai. II, 4). Swords shall be turned into plowshares, and spears into pruning-hooks, and the nation shall cease to wage war against another nation. No one will learn to fight, in the absence of the necessity to fight. And there will be such peace, that not only in cities, but also in villages and fields, everyone will be safe: and this will happen, because the mouth of the Lord has spoken. And first indeed, according to the letter, before a child was born to us, whose government was upon his shoulder, the whole world was full of blood, nations fought against nations, kings fought against kings, and peoples fought against peoples. Finally, even the Roman Republic itself was torn apart by civil wars, with Cinna and Octavius and Carbo fighting, with Sylla and Marius, Antony and Catiline, Caesar and Gnaeus Pompeius, Augustus and Brutus, and with the same Augustus and Antony: in their battles, entire kingdoms shed blood. But after the reign of Christ began, Rome obtained a unique reign; the path of the Apostles became known throughout the world, and the gates of cities were opened to them, and a unique reign of one God was established for preaching. It is also possible to interpret this saying in a tropological sense: that we may say to the faith of Christ, anger and unbridled insults are put aside, so that each person may place their hand on the plow and not look back, and desiring to reap spiritual fruits, breaking the darts of insults and spears of contempt, so that while others labor, we may enter into their labors, and it may be said of us: 'They that sow in tears shall reap in joy, carrying their sheaves.' Now no one fights against another, because we read: Blessed are the peacemakers (Matt. V, 9). No one learns to argue to the downfall of the listeners, but puts silence on his mouth, and is silent; because it is an evil time (Ps. CIII). And each one rests under his vine, to press the wine, which makes glad the heart of man, under that vine, whose farmer is the Father (John XV), and under his fig tree collecting the sweet fruits of the Holy Spirit, charity, joy, peace, and the rest. But all these things happen, according to both interpretations, because the words of the Lord are true, and he said and did them. All the peoples will go, each one on his own way: but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and beyond. They say to all the nations going astray according to their error, we hastened to the mountain of the Lord, and we said: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob (Isaiah 2:3), and we will walk in the name of Christ our Lord, because he is the mountain who is God. In that day, in which the sun of justice will shine, that which was formerly crushed will be gathered together, and that which was expelled will be received, and to this the crushed will be gathered together, so that it may be placed among the remnants, and the forsaken will be made into a strong nation. For unless the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we would have been like Sodom, and we would have been similar to Gomorrah (Rom. 9:29). But according to the Hebrew, it is beautiful: I will gather the limping one, and the one who has walked badly and to whom Elijah said: How long will you limp? (1 Kings 18:21). Whose foot had been scandalized was cut off (Mark 9). I will gather the one whom I had cast out, and to whom I had given the bill of divorce. And the one whom I had afflicted with various captivities, or had delivered to the devil and his angels. And so that a diligent reader may not immediately oppose us, saying how can you claim that the limping one has been gathered, and the one that had been cast out has been collected, when the Jews remain in unbelief? Let him hear about the first Church of Christ that believed from the Jews, from which even the Apostles came, about which Luke describes in the Acts of the Apostles: that in one day three thousand believed, and elsewhere five thousand (Acts 2). And about whom James speaks to Paul: You see, brother Paul, how many thousands there are among the Jews who believe, and all of these are zealous for the Law (Ibid., 21). But consider also the prophetic significance: He did not say, 'I will make the whole lame person whole,' but 'I will make the lame person into a remnant, so that the remnant and the chosen ones may be saved, and those who have labored may become a strong nation, namely the Christian people, which neither sword nor fire nor torments will overcome. See the faith and passion of the Martyrs, and you will not doubt the strength of this nation. And the Lord will rule over them, that is, over many nations, and over the lame remnants on Mount Zion, in the Church, in the watchtower, in the contemplation of virtues, from the present world to the future.' But if anyone wants to understand this which is said: 'I will gather that which was broken, and I will receive that which was cast out, etc.,' to refer to the human soul which, before the coming of Christ, was subject to various sufferings and vices, and was like a lost and diseased sheep torn apart by the jaws of wolves, he will not be mistaken, as long as he knows that the one that was broken and afflicted will later be part of the Lord's kingdom, and will live in Zion, and will be carried on the shoulders of the good shepherd to the former mountain. It should also be known, and this chapter which we have now exposed, and a similar one from Isaiah, refers the Jews and the heirs of their errors to the thousand-year reign of Christ and the saints. And that which is said: All peoples will worship, each one in the name of their Lord God, should be interpreted as each nation being tormented with their own idol, and being cast into the fire of eternal punishment. But from the subsequent things, it is argued that this is not said about the end of the ages, but about the first coming of Christ, in which the remnants of the limping are gathered and the nations are saved beforehand. Therefore Isaiah has given this testimony: The word that was spoken to Isaiah son of Amos concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days the mountain of the Lord's house will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.' The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. (Isaiah 2) It is significant here that it is said that the word of God, coming out from Jerusalem, will judge between many nations and specifically rebuke the people of Judah. For he will judge us as sinners according to the measure of our works: but he will not judge them as wicked and deniers, but will reprove and condemn them.

Book Two

Book Two

We always respond to envy, because envy never ceases: and the beginning of our books refute the curses of rivals: who commonly boast that I write certain foolishness of sterile and jejune speech, and that I am unable to be silent when unable to speak. Therefore, I beseech you, O Paula and Eustochium, to close your ears to such barking, and to support my infancy, as they say, with your prayers, obtain for me, in accordance with the opening of my mouth as the Apostle says, that I may be able to adapt to speaking about the Scriptures: The Lord will give a powerful word to those who preach the Gospel (Psalm 68: 12). But I warn the fat bulls, who surround me (Ps. XXI), to rest and cease from cursing, lest they recognize their own evil deeds which will be revealed later, if they continue to harm. For what they say, that I compile the works of Origen, and that it is not fitting to contaminate the writings of the ancients: that vehement curse which they think it is, I consider it the greatest praise, since I want to imitate him, whom I have no doubt pleases all wise men, and you as well. For if it is a crime to translate the blessed works of the Greeks, then Ennius and Virgil should be accused, as well as Plautus, Caecilius, and Terence, and also Cicero and other eloquent men, who have translated not only verses, but also many chapters, lengthy books, and entire plays. Our Hilarius is also guilty of theft, because he has translated nearly forty thousand verses of the aforementioned Origen's psalms into understandable language. Out of all of these, I aspire to imitate their negligence, rather than the obscure diligence of those individuals. But now is the time to forge another book in Michael, and to crush the heads of the resurgent hydra with the prophet's staff.

4:8-9

(Verse 8, 9.) And you, tower of the flock, cloudy daughter of Zion, there will come to you the first power, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. Now why are you contracted with sorrow? Is there no king for you, or has your counselor perished? For pain has seized you like a woman in labor. LXX: And you, tower of the flock, darkened daughter of Zion, there will come to you the first principality, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem from Babylon. And now, why have you known evil? Was not the king your husband, or has your plan perished, because pains have overtaken you like a woman in childbirth? The cloudy or desolate tower, which is called Ophel in Hebrew, we should not accept any other but that which Isaiah says: And I built a tower in the midst of it, that is, the vineyard. But the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel (Isaiah 5:2). This tower, as long as it has a winepress, that is, an altar, and a wall around it, namely the assistance of the Angels, and the devil, the wild boar, does not enter the vineyard, it is not desolate, it is not dark, but having received its name from the shining Lord, it is called a city, which cannot be hidden on the mountain. Therefore the tower of the flock and the people of God (because the wicked tenants killed the son of the master of the house (Luke 20) is now desolate and forsaken, and under the name Ariel, cries out from the earth in Isaiah. And this tower is the daughter of Zion, or as Symmachus renders it in Greek: She is the daughter of Zion (Isaiah 29): and to her will come God, or the first power, which is the power of the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. And the first power, or the first principality, comes to this tower, the one who said: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last (Revelation 22:13). And he who from the assumed person of man says in Proverbs, 'The Lord created me in the beginning of his ways, before his works' (Prov. VIII, 22), or, as it is written in Hebrew, 'The Lord possessed me: Canaanite did not create me, but possessed me and had me,' signifies. And the first power came, and the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem, that after the first one comes the second, just as he confidently says: 'I am the light of the world' (John VIII, 12): thus he also gives to his disciples that they too may be called the light of the world, and he says to them: 'You are the light of the world' (John VI). But also, calling himself the true vine in the Gospel, he speaks of the believers through Jeremiah: 'Yet I planted you a choice vine, a completely faithful seed.' (Jeremiah 21) And since he is the living bread descending from heaven, he gave it to his disciples so that it might be called bread. Hence, the apostle Paul speaks confidently: 'For we, though many, are one bread.' (1 Corinthians 17) In this manner, the first authority and kingdom enter into Jerusalem, so that it may grant power and kingdom to those who believe in it. But what is read in some books: And the first prince shall enter (Al. shall journey), the kingdom of the daughter of Zion, and from (Al. is from) Babylon, we know that it has been added because it is neither in Hebrew, nor in the other interpreters. And it seems to me that it refers to the captivity of Babylon, that the people who came out from there came to Jerusalem. It follows: And now why do you contract with sorrow? or, as it is written in the Seventy, And now why have you known the evils which the Lord and the first power and kingdom said were coming? Why are you now contracting with sorrow, or why have you known evil? Immediately it is answered and said: Because the king is not for you, and your counselor has perished, because sorrow has seized you like a woman in labor. Or certainly when you have all these things, by your own fault, you do not deserve the help of either the king or the counselor. But when he says: Why have you known evil? it is to be understood in this sense, that everyone who deserves and suffers evil, is said to know evil, and to be ignorant of good. According to what is written in the first book of the Kings: The sons of Eli, sons of wickedness, did not know God (1 Sam. 2:12). And elsewhere: Whoever keeps the commandment will not know evil speech (Eccles. 8:5). And to the sinners: Depart from me, says the Lord, you who work iniquity, for I do not know you (Ps. 6:9). On the other hand, concerning the Lord: He who knew no sin, for us he made sin (2 Cor. 5:21), understood as God the Father. But the king, and the angel of great counsel, is understood to be the Savior, who perished for the unbelieving people, whom pains seized like a woman in labor: for he, thinking that Israel was to obtain the empire, was suddenly devastated. And just as a woman in labor cannot escape the pain: so he could not avoid and delay the impending captivity and the army surrounding the city. Let us read the Scriptures, and we will never find that holy women, except Rachel, gave birth with pain: because she was on the way and in the hippodrome, that is, in the race of horses, which are sold in Egypt, she gave birth to a son of pain, whom later the father called the son of his right hand (Genesis 35). Eve, expelled from paradise and hearing: 'In pain you will bring forth children' (Ibid., III, 16), is said to have given birth in pain. The wife of Phineas, contracted and unable to straighten herself, like the woman whom the devil bound in the Gospel (Luke XIII), gave birth after she learned of the capture of the ark of God and the ruin of the people (2 Samuel IV). But Sarah, because she was holy and had ceased to menstruate, after the birth of Isaac said: 'God has made me laugh; whoever hears will laugh with me' (Genesis XXI, 6). Therefore, those who occupied the tower of the flock, they are pains of the underworld and pains of death, who indeed surrounded and encircled even the Savior; but they were by no means able to obtain him, as he himself speaks in the seventeenth Psalm: Pains of death surrounded me, and rivers of iniquity troubled me, and pains of hell enclosed me. Some think that the squalid tower, or dark tower, and daughter of Jerusalem, are to be understood as the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of the saints, of whom the Apostle also says: You have come to Mount Zion, and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. XII, 22), which remains squalid as long as her sons are not brought back to her, and a king and counselor are not in her, and pains seize her like a woman in labor, because she has given birth in vain, seeing so many sons killed.

4:10

(Verse 10.) Grieve and take action, daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you will leave the city and dwell in the country, and you will come all the way to Babylon; there you will be saved, there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. LXX: Grieve and act courageously, daughter of Zion, like a woman giving birth, for now you will leave the city and dwell in the open field, and you will come all the way to Babylon; from there you will be saved, and from there the Lord your God will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. To whom it is commanded that she should grieve or give birth, and afterwards be brought forth, act courageously, it is not commanded in vain. But let her, enduring the pains patiently, go out of the city, and dwell in the plain or in the region, and come even to Babylon. And when she, sustaining captivity for sin, shall have borne what hath been inflicted on her bravely, then the Lord may deliver her, and her God may redeem her out of the hand of her enemies, that, being set free, she may say unto them that rejoice against her: 'Rejoice not against me, my enemy, because I have fallen; I shall rise again; although I have walked in darkness, the Lord is my light; I will bear the wrath of the Lord, for I have sinned against Him, until He justify my cause, and shall make my judgment, and bring me forth into the light, and I shall see His righteousness, and mine enemy shall behold it, and shame shall cover her.' (infra8,9). And in the Psalms it is sung with a fitting voice: The Lord will not be angry forever, nor will he threaten forever (Psalm 102:9). And it belongs to the salvation of the one who is suffering to grieve and to act bravely, and Jesus, the son of Nun, is also a witness to this, to whom the Lord says: Be strong and act bravely (Joshua 1:1). But the daughter of Zion grieves and acts bravely because she has been cast down and has come out of the city naked, and she is being led captive into the field of Shinar, and she will be in Babylon until Zerubbabel comes and Ezra, whose name means helper, will deliver her from the hand of the Chaldeans. Since it is clear according to the literal meaning, it seems to me that the soul is understood to be expelled from the Church because of sin, and handed over to the enemy and avenger for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved by departing from the city which the force of the river delights, and not dwelling on the mountain where it was before, but in the plain, where the army of the Assyrians wanders, and being in the confusion of its vices, and after it has put on shackles, and has drawn the millstone, and has made flour for the Babylonians, to say upon returning to itself: How many hired servants of my father are filled with loaves, and here I perish with hunger! (Luke 15:17) And to welcome him as he returned to his father's house, and to be redeemed from the hand of a most harsh master. Let us take as an example what is commanded to the daughters of Zion, and it is said: Grieve and act manfully as a woman in labor, not for punishment, but for her benefit. Paul speaks to the Galatians: My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you (Galatians 4:19). And he grieved for them for so long, and he gave birth to them again through repentance, who had perished through their transgression. If a physician is called to someone with a fever or a wound, they should say: Endure the pain and act courageously, quench your thirst, and bring a cautery, so that you may achieve a more certain recovery.

4:11-13

(Verses 11-13.) And now many nations have gathered against you, saying: Let her be stoned, and let our eyes see her downfall in Zion. But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, and they do not understand His plan, for He has gathered them like the hay of the threshing floor. Rise up and trample, daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hooves bronze, and you will crush many peoples. And you will dedicate their plunder to the Lord, and their strength to the Lord of all the earth. LXX: And now many nations have gathered against you, saying, 'Let us insult and see with our own eyes in Zion.' But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, and they do not understand His counsel, for He has gathered them like sheaves into a threshing floor. Arise and trample them, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horns iron and your hooves bronze, and you will crush many peoples. And you will devote their multitude to the Lord, and their strength to the Lord of all the earth. O Jerusalem, O daughter of Zion, who will come to Babylon, and there you will be set free, and the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. But now many nations have gathered against you, who speak as if of an adulteress, saying: Let her be stoned, and let our eyes look upon her. As it is written in the Septuagint: Let us insult and rejoice, and let our eyes despise Zion; and they did not understand the will and plan of the Lord, for this reason the nations have gathered against you, so that you may crush them like the threshing floor crushes the chaff or straw. Rise up, therefore, daughter of Zion, and with the iron horns that I promise to give you, and with the bronze hooves that you will receive, scatter and crush the peoples, and kill them for the Lord of the whole earth. For He takes pleasure in such a victim and such a sacrifice. The Jews, seeing that these things have not yet been fulfilled, promise themselves the coming of Christ in the future, and they say that all nations will serve the Jewish people, and that the Roman empire, which they interpret as Edom, will be crushed under their hooves and scattered with their horns. It is easy to prove from all the Scriptures how foolish this is, but that is a matter of another time. Therefore, we who follow not the letter that kills, but the life-giving spirit, say that many nations of demons gather against the daughter of Zion, which is translated as the Church, and insult her in the present age, which is under the power of evil, and rejoice in the killing of her children, ignorant of the thoughts of the Lord and not recognizing His plan. For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of majesty (I Cor. II, 8). Therefore, He will gather them as sheaves in the area, so that whatever appeared to have thorns and be scattered, empty and light, may be crushed by their hooves, and winnowed by their horns, and the pure remaining grain may be offered as gifts to the Lord. But what does it mean when he says: You will crush many peoples, and consecrate their multitude to the Lord, and their strength to the Lord of the whole earth. We read Numbers, and Jesus on the ship, and the first book of the Kings, and we will see how, concerning the subject peoples, when all things perish by the edge of the sword, both gold and silver, and also how a certain number of people and animals dedicated to the Lord as spoils. Finally, Achor, who stole something from the ban of Jericho, disturbed the people, and the name of the valley was imposed from sin, Emec Achor (), meaning valley of tumult, or disturbances (Joshua 7). But so that you may know, according to the Septuagint interpreters, who said: 'You shall consecrate their multitude to the Lord, and their strength to the Lord of all the earth,' the word 'consecration' should be understood in a positive sense: Theodotion translated it as 'multitude,' the Fifth Edition as 'benefit,' which means 'advantage,' and Symmachus as 'gain,' which means 'their profit.'

5:1

(Chapter 5, Verse 1) Now you will be devastated, daughter of a robber: sieges have been placed upon us; they will strike the judge of Israel on the cheek with a rod. LXX: Now the daughter will be obstructed with an obstruction; distress has been placed upon us; they will strike the tribes of Israel on the cheek with a rod. Not that one tribe strikes the cheek of another, but that others strike the tribes of Israel on the cheek. Indeed, I have promised you, O daughter of Zion, that there will come a time when I will place an iron horn upon you, and your hooves will be made of bronze, and by the multitude of demons being shattered, you will offer whatever they had previously possessed to the Lord (Romans 11) of the entire earth. But because this will happen when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and all Israel has been saved, now for the time being you are being laid waste, or as it is said in Hebrew, destroyed. For you are not called Circumcision according to the Apostle (Philippians 3), but rather cutting off: nor do I call you my daughter, but the daughter of a thief, which in Hebrew is called Bath Gedud (), that is, always ready to plunder for the devil. For you have made my house a den of thieves, you have fought against me, and your sons have laid siege against me, and against the Son, and against my Spirit. Is it not an insult to the Trinity, when by your hand the Romans struck the head of the judge of Israel with a rod and a reed, saying: Prophesy to us, O Christ, who is it that struck you (Matt. 26:60)? Or when one of your servants struck him on the cheek, saying: Is this how you answer the high priest (John 18:22)? According to the Hebrew, to which the interpretations of Aquila and Symmachus, and Theodotion, and the fifth edition agree. But according to the LXX, the meaning is much higher and is understood as if from its own beginning. Now the synagogue is obstructed by obstruction: and those who are closed in it will say: He has placed distress upon us; and subject to Roman authorities, they will be struck on the cheekbones by the three Israels. For the Lord has taken away from Judah and from Jerusalem the strong and mighty, and the wise architect, and the intelligent listener (or helper), and its ways are closed and blocked up even until today, and it cannot go out of captivity; but it is pressed down by the harshest rule (Isaiah 3:1-2). But if we want to understand the above sense as referring to the Church, let us bring forth the example from Hosea, in which the adulteress speaks: I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread, and my water, and my clothing, and my linen, my oil, and everything that is beneficial to me (Hosea 2:5). And afterwards, God, wanting to hinder her wicked thoughts, does not allow her to fulfill what she desires; but He obstructs her ways, so that she does not obtain her lovers, and no longer commits adultery. He says: Therefore, behold, I will block her ways with thorns, and I will wall her in, and she will not find her path, and she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch them, and she will seek them, but she will not find them, and she will say: I will go and return to my former husband, for it was good for me there. (Ibidem, VI, sec. LXX). Notice how the work of the Lord has progressed: the adulteress, not finding her way, and unable to go where she wanted, is compelled by necessity to return to her former husband, and she confesses that it was better for her in the house of her former husband than it had been with her former lovers, and through the tribulations and plagues of Israel she is instructed. Therefore, God has placed tribulation upon the daughter of Israel, and the angels who are in charge of administering punishment will strike her on the cheek. Lest you should not know who the daughter is, who is obstructed by obstruction and is placed in distress, is immediately inferred and is said to be the threefold Israel. But we are the Israel, who perceive God with the mind, to distinguish whom the Apostle speaks: "See Israel according to the flesh" (I Cor. XIX, 18). For he would never call carnal Israel, unless he knew that there is also a spiritual one.

5:2

(Version 2.) And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. LXX: And you, Bethlehem, house of Ephrathah, are small among the thousands of Judah; out of you shall come forth for me one who will be ruler in Israel, and his goings forth are from of old, from the days of eternity. In the Gospel according to Matthew (Mat. II), when the magi from the East came and Herod asked the scribes where the Christ, the Lord, was to be born, they are said to have responded: In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it was written by the prophet: And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. It is clear to me, even without my speaking, that the testimony does not agree with the Hebrew or the Septuagint interpreters. And I believe that Matthew, wanting to accuse the Scribes and priests of negligence in regard to the reading of divine Scripture, also placed it in this way, as has been said by them. Furthermore, those who assert that in almost all testimonies taken from the Old Testament there is such an error, that either the order is changed, or the words, and sometimes even the sense itself is different, testify not from a written book, but from their memory, which is sometimes mistaken, to the apostles and evangelists. Therefore, let us explain the Hebrew: And you, Bethlehem, that is, the house of bread, which is called Ephratha, are indeed the least among the cities of Judah, and compared to so many thousands, you are hardly a small village; but from this small village will come forth Christ, who is the ruler in Israel. And do not think that he is only from the lineage of David, to whom I promised, saying: I will set upon your throne the fruit of your womb (Ps. CXXXI, 11), the assumption of flesh does not hinder the divine majesty: for he is born of me before all ages, and as the creator of time, he is not bound by it. He is the one of whom I said in another psalm: Before Lucifer I begot you (Ps. 109:3). For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). This was in the beginning with God. And therefore his coming forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. That Bethlehem itself is Ephrath, the book of Genesis shows, in which Scripture records: Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem (Gen. 35). And in both names it signifies a sacrament: for the house is called bread, because of the living bread, which came down from heaven (John VI). And Ephrata, which translates as seeing madness, because of Herod's insanity, since he was deceived by the wise men, he was very angry, and sent and slew all the children in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. And because of the great amount of bloodshed, a voice was heard in the heights, lamentation and weeping, Rachel weeping for her children (Jer. XXXI). We read according to the Septuagint, specifically in the book of Joshua, where three cities and towns of Judah are described, among others, including: Thaeco, Ephratha, which is Bethlehem, Phagor, Aetham, Culon, Tami (also called Tatami), Soris, Caraem, Gallim, Baether, and Manocho, eleven cities, and their villages (Josue XV). This is not found in the Hebrew text, nor in any other interpreter, and whether it was erased from the ancient books by the malice of the Jews so that Christ would not appear to have been born from the tribe of Judah, or whether it was added by the Septuagint without clear knowledge, we do not know for certain. Nevertheless, we can confirm this from the book of Judges, that Bethlehem is in the tribe of Judah, for it is written: 'And there was a Levite man, living in the farthest parts of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. And his concubine was angry with him, and she went back to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah' (Judges 19:1). It is well said, Bethlehem in Judah, to distinguish it from Bethlehem, which is situated in Galilee, as I found in the same volume of Jesus. Ephratha can sound in our language as fruitful, abundant, and fruitful, and it also shows in the mystery, which is the house of bread.

5:3

(Verse 3) Because of this, He will give them until the time when she who is in labor gives birth, and the rest of his brothers shall return to the children of Israel. LXX: Therefore, He will give them until the time of the one giving birth: she shall give birth, and the rest of his brothers shall return to the children of Israel. Because from Bethlehem, which is Ephrathah, Christ the ruler has come forth in Israel, and his coming forth was not only at the time when he was seen in the flesh, but from the beginning of eternity, or from the beginning of the age. Because He always spoke through the prophets, and the word of God became incarnate in their hands (the hands of the saints): therefore, He will give the Jews, and He will permit them to rule until the time of childbirth, when that is fulfilled: Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who are not in labor; for the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of the one who has a husband (Isaiah 54:1, LXX). For when the barren woman has borne seven, and she who had many children is weakened, and through the offense of the Jewish people, the fullness of the Gentiles enters, then all Israel will be saved, and the remnant of his brothers will be converted to the children of Israel; and when the prophet Elijah comes, which means, God is Lord, he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers (Luke 1:17), and the last people will be joined to the ancient, so that they may truly be called the sons of Abraham, when they believe in the one whom Abraham saw and rejoiced (John 8). But what is the time in which the barren woman will give birth? I believe it is the time spoken of by Isaiah: 'In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you' (Isaiah 49:8). And Paul, understanding this as referring to the time of Christ, says: 'Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation' (2 Corinthians 6:2). I think this also symbolically demonstrates what is written in Ecclesiastes: 'A time to be born, and a time to die' (Ecclesiastes 3:2), which refers to the time when the synagogue, which was barren, gave birth to the people of the Gentiles but lost its own children. Nevertheless, it can also be understood differently: The Lord will give the temple and Jerusalem, and the Jews, until the time when the virgin gives birth, who after giving birth and receiving the spoils of Samaria and the power of Damascus, with the people of Judah being killed, the remnant of Israel will be saved. And the brothers of Christ, that is, the apostles, will turn to the faith of the prophets and patriarchs, who announced the coming of Christ, and the prophecy of the psalm will be fulfilled: You were born for your fathers sons, and so on (Ps. 44, 17).

5:4

(Verse 4) And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of his God: and they shall be converted, for now he shall be magnified even to the ends of the earth. LXX: And he shall stand, and shall see, and shall feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, and they shall be in the glory of the name of the Lord their God: for now they shall be magnified even to the ends of the earth. Afterward the sun of justice shall rise to the heights of heaven, and shall come to the borders of the people: and he shall give his light to everyone, and shall be made manifest in his power: and the residue shall be turned into the children of Israel. Then shall the Lord our God appear to them: and they shall pass in a cloud, and shall come to the places mentioned before: the Lord our God shall enlighten them, and shall perpetuate the work of his justice in peace. (Psalm 22, 1) But He feeds them, not only in the strength of the Lord, but also in the exaltation of the name of His God, when He says to the Father: Holy Father, keep them in Your name, those whom You have given Me, that they may be one, as We are: while I was with them, I kept them in Your name: those whom You have given Me, I have guarded, and none of them has perished (John 17:11). And they will turn, or as Symmachus interprets it better, they will dwell. Jasubu () enim verbum Hebraicum utrumque significat. Habitabunt autem in Ecclesia Domini, quiamagnificatus est Christus usque ad terminum terrae. Sive, juxta LXX, quia magnificabuntur (( Al. magnificantur)) ipsi cum pastore suo usque ad extremum terrae, ut in omnem terram exeat sonus eorum et in fines orbis terrae verba eorum (Ps. XVIII) .

5:5

(Verse 5.) And this will be the peace: When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads on our houses. LXX: And this will be the peace; When the Assyrian comes and rises over your land and when he ascends over your region. When the devil comes, who is interpreted as 'accuser’, that is, accusing and reproving, over the land and region of the believers, and of those whom the Lord will feed in strength and in the exaltedness of the name of His Lord God, and he treads on them with various tribulations, and on the houses of our souls, that is, our bodies, as if he were proudly rising and pressing down, and yet nothing separates us from the love of Christ: then the peace of Christ, or Christ Himself, will be in us, and it will be said of the holy one, The enemy will not profit anything against him. Let us give an example, so that what we say can become more evident. An Assyrian came upon the land of Paul long ago, and he ascended above his territory, when he was in great difficulties; more abundant in afflictions, excessively in prisons, frequently in deaths: when he received forty-minus-one beatings from the Jews, he was beaten with rods three times, stoned once, shipwrecked three times, he was in the depths of the sea night and day, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from false brothers, in dangers from his own people, in dangers from gentiles; but in all these things he overcame because of him who loved him. And so he was filled with peace, because he had been filled with insults. (1 Corinthians 11) The Jews in the coming of Christ, which they pretend for themselves, contend that all these things will happen according to the letter.

5:6

(Verse 6.) And we will raise up against him seven shepherds and eight principal men, and they will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with their spears; and he will deliver from Assyria when it comes into our land and when it treads within our borders. LXX: And seven shepherds will rise against him, and eight bites of men, and they will shepherd Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with their pitfall; and he will deliver from Assyria, when it comes upon your land, and when it ascends upon your borders. Where we have placed the first human beings, and it is written in Hebrew Nesiche Adam, Symmachus interprets it as Christos hominum; Theodotion and the fifth edition, prinipces hominum; Aquila, heavy, or established men, that is, καθισταμένους. Again, in the place where I and Aquila have translated it, in his spears, so that it is understood, the land of Nimrod, Symmachus renders it as ἐντὸς πυλῶν αὐτῆς, that is, within its gates; Theodotion, within their gates; the fifth edition, ἐν παραξίφησιν αὐτῶν, which we can say, in their marshes: but in Hebrew it is written Baphethee. So then there will be peace, when the remnants of the brothers of Christ are converted to the sons of Israel, and the Assyrian comes into our land, and with the help of the Lord, we will quickly crush him who desired to trample on our houses under our feet. For the Lord himself says: We will raise up seven shepherds against him, and eight leaders of men, or human bites. But I and my Son and the Holy Spirit will raise up, according to what is written in Genesis: Let us make man in our image and likeness (Gen. 1:26). And in the beginning of Abdiel: Rise up and let us ascend against her in battle. I believe the seven shepherds, all the patriarchs and prophets and holy men, served in the week, that is, in the old Instrument. But the eight bites of men, or rather the eight chief men, as Symmachus interpreted, are the Christs, all of the New Testament, who from the apostles to this age have bitten the Assyrian and torn him with their teeth. And it is commanded in Ecclesiastes: Let us give seven parts, let us also give eight (Eccl. XI). And in the temple of Ezekiel, which is interpreted as the Church and the heavenly Jerusalem, one ascends by seven and eight steps (Ezek. XL). And in the Psalter there are fifteen steps by which we ascend through the week and the octave to sing praises to God. On the eighth day, the spiritual circumcision is celebrated, and in the temple of the Jews, the Sabbath is destroyed, and certain psalms are inscribed for the Octave. Therefore, these seven shepherds and eight offenses of men will feed Assyria with the sword. For the living and effective word of God, sharper than every two-edged sword (Heb. IV, 12), was sent by Him who came to send a sword upon the earth, so that two might be divided into three (Matth. X). And they will feed the land of Nimrod (which means 'descending temptation') in its pit; for the land of the giant and hunter and one who proudly opposes the Lord is not in the mountains, but in the pits. He has fallen like lightning from heaven, and he always dwells among beasts; and because he is a hunter, he roams through unfruitful woods and forests. As far as I can recall from my memory, I have never read favorably about a hunter. Ishmael and Esau were hunters (Gen. XVI and XXVII), and they foreshadowed the people of Judah, of whom one is a son of Egypt, walking according to the flesh and living according to the flesh: the other lost the birthright for a lentil soup, and envious of his brother's blessings, he sends him away to Mesopotamia. Therefore, let the earth swallow up Nimrod in its pits: For he who digs a pit will fall into it (Prov. XXVI, 7): and he who opens a well and digs it, will fall into the pit he made, and his pain will turn upon his head, and his wickedness will descend upon his own skull (Ps. VII, 16, 17). And Christ freed us from the hand of Assyria, the Assyrian who came upon our land, and desired to trample the boundaries of Israel, confessing to the seven shepherds and to eight princes. But what Symmachus says: And Assur will feed the land with the sword, and the region of Nemrod within its gates, this should be understood, that the strong will be bound in his own house, and the adversary will be wounded. And according to the Eagle and the fifth edition, let the seven shepherds be pierced with dryness and the eight men of Christ with spears.

5:7-15

(Verse 7 onwards) And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for man or delay for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver. Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots: And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds: And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities. And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard. LXX: And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, in the midst of many people, as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, in the midst of many people, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, I will kill your horses from your midst, and I will destroy your chariots, and I will overthrow the cities of your land: and I will take away all your fortresses. And I will take away your sorceries from your hand, and those who speak, they shall not be in you: and I will destroy your carved images, and your statues from your midst, and you shall no longer worship the works of your hands. And I will cut down your groves from your midst, and I will demolish your cities, and I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the nations, because they did not listen. When Assyria comes upon our land and rises upon our borders, we shall be freed by the Lord who raised up seven shepherds and eight attacks of men against him, the remnants of Jacob, whom we understand as the apostles, and the first Church of the Jews, will be among many peoples like dew falling from the Lord. For the hearts of the people burned with the fiery arrows of the devil, and all the nations, being unfaithful to God, had hearts like a furnace kindled with fire (Hosea 7). Where the dew falling from the Lord, the health of the sick was made. And just as we read in Daniel (Dan. 3), that the spirit of the roaring dew extinguished the fiery furnace, let us generally understand this of all nations, that the doctrine of the Apostles was like dew from the Lord in the midst of all nations. But what follows: And like lambs on the grass, so that no one gathers and is not among the sons of men, let us receive this concerning those who from the nations did not want to believe, that they are the heavenly Apostles and the remnants of Jacob, like lambs grazing on grass, and gathering grass with their teeth. And they shall do this, so that those who did not want to be angels, receiving the spiritual dew, are by no means gathered among men, nor are they assigned to a rational part, but it is said of them: They are not in the toil of men, and they shall not be scourged with men (Ps. 73:5). And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of the nations like a lion among beasts in the forest, and like a young lion among flocks of sheep. For the Lord Jesus, of whom it is prophesied in Genesis: Judah, you have ascended from the offspring, my son, you have laid down to sleep as a lion and as a young lion (Gen. 49:9). And in another place, reclining as a lion, and like a lion's cub, who will rouse him? He also gave to his apostles, to whom he said: Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19): so that just as no one can resist a lion among beasts, and a lion's cub among sheep, in the same way, those who have been freed from the hand of Assyria and from the hand of the devil would snatch away cattle and livestock; for the Lord will save both men and animals (Psalm 36:7). And they ravaged, not to kill, but to divide, that is, to separate from the infidels, and there would be no one to resist them. But with the lion and the lion's cub wandering among the livestock and the sheep, the hand of God is exalted over those who either troubled God or the relics of Israel before. And all his enemies will be scattered, not because the enemies perish and stop existing, but because they perish as enemies. As it is written to the Thessalonians: Whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth (II Thes. II, 8). This killing does not signify abolition, but rather the cessation of a wicked life, which they were living badly before. Finally, it concludes: And he will destroy with the brightness of his coming. However, he would never destroy if the killing signified abolition, since it would have already ceased to exist: thus the destruction of enemies here is understood, according to the Proverbs of Solomon, in which it is written: The destruction will lodge with the wicked: it will not be perpetual, it will not reduce them to nothing; but it will lodge with them as long as the wickedness that is in them is consumed. For God created man, so that he would not perish, and He did not make death. After this follows: And it shall come to pass in that day, when your hand is lifted up against your enemies, O Israel, and all your enemies are destroyed, I will kill your horses from among you, that is, the principal (ἡγεμονικῷ) impulses of your heart's lust, like horses breaking loose from their chains, rushing forward, and your chariots in which you delighted in your vices, and associating sins with sins, as if triumphing you were carried in triumphal chariots. And I will destroy the cities of your land. For you have not built a city that delights in the rushing of God's river (Psalm 49), nor the heavenly Jerusalem that is situated in the mountains (Matthew 5), but rather the city that Cain built (Genesis 4). Hence, the cities of the earth are said to be built with earthly works. And I will take away, it says, all your fortresses, your wealth, indeed, and the pomp of the world, and the eloquence of orators, and the arguments of dialecticians, in which you trusted as in fortresses. And I will take away the evil deeds from your hands, by which either you yourself were deceived by others, or being deceived, you deceived others. And those who speak or pronounce will not be to you. Now the world is full of those who speak and pronounce: they speak what they do not know, they teach what they have not learned: they are masters, when they have not been disciples before. Therefore, when God teaches man knowledge, false presumptions will cease, and perverse teaching will be removed. And I will destroy your idols and your statues from your midst. Our idols are those that are made by those who speak, or that we ourselves create for ourselves. Hence it is commanded in the Law (Exodus 20) , that we do not make idols for ourselves, and do not place statues in our land (Leviticus 26) : and you shall not worship the works of your own hands (Deuteronomy 5) . Unfortunate is the human condition, full of foolishness and error, knowing that doctrines are composed from one's own understanding, not ignorant that it is a simulated idol created by oneself, and worships the works of one's own hands as God, and man bends down, deceived to deceive. It is added in the promise that is directed to the remnants, that is, the remnants of Jacob: And I will cut down the woods from the midst of you, and will destroy your cities, so that all the trees of the forests, and the woods that were prohibited to be planted in the temple of God, and the badly constructed cities, which previously were called cities of the land, may be destroyed and consumed. But after he has done this to the remnants of Jacob, then he will turn to the nations that the Apostles, like lambs, have grazed. And because they did not want to receive the dew of speech, he said, 'I will make vengeance in anger and fury upon the nations, because they did not want to hear.' Hence the prophet says: 'Lord, do not rebuke me in your fury; nor chastise me in your anger.' (Psalm 6:1). According to the Septuagint interpreters, this is because it is a spiritual understanding, and we ought to connect the meaning with the previous chapters, as has been discussed. However, the Hebrews dream such delusions: After the seven whom they imagine, and the shepherds whom they want, and the eight princes of the Assyrians whom they have conquered, and they have fed the land of Nimrod with their swords, and this has happened when the Assyrian came into the land of Judah, then, they say, when Christ comes, all the remaining descendants of Jacob who can survive among the nations will be in blessing, like dew coming from the Lord, and like rain upon the grass, and they will not hope in men, nor in the sons of men, but in God. And they will be among the nations and peoples, bloodthirsty and cruel, seeking vengeance against their former masters, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, and like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, and there will be no one who can resist their strength. Then, O God, or O Israel, your hand will be exalted over the Assyrians and all your enemies who now possess you will perish. On that day, when you are liberated from the nations, I will remove your horses and chariots that are in your midst cities. Not because Israel had horses and chariots at that time, but rather the horses and chariots of the Assyrians that are in the midst of your cities. And I will destroy all your cities and the fortified places that you have dedicated to idols. And I will remove sorcerers and fortune-tellers from your land, and I will cause all your sculptures and statues to perish, and you will no longer worship the works of your hands. I will also uproot and overthrow all your groves, and the cities that you have dedicated to idols. And when I have done this to you, and have been appeased in this way, so that whatever evil is in you may be removed, then I will also avenge you in my fury and indignation against all the nations that have refused to listen to my word. Let the fleshly Israel respond here, whether it speaks of past or future events. If it mentions past events, let it provide a history and cite the authority of ancient books: let it teach all nations that Assyria was once subject to Israel. But if someone thinks that he will be secure while indulging in sinful pleasure, when Christ comes, what idols of Israel will be removed, which are not currently worshipped? What lights will be extinguished, which it does not have? What cities will be destroyed, which were once destroyed? What soothsayers will be taken away, whom it does not have, and should not glory in having? Yet for so long, the daughter of Zion has been abandoned, and she sits without an altar and without priests; while others enjoy the fruits of their labor, they themselves promise themselves a future with dry throats, not knowing what it will bring.

6:1-2

(Chapter VI—Verses 1, 2.) Listen to what the Lord is saying: Rise up, contend with the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Listen, O mountains, to the Lord's judgment, and you mighty foundations of the earth, for the Lord will judge with his people and with Israel. Septuagint: Listen to what the Lord has spoken: Rise up, judge among the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Listen, O mountains, to the Lord's judgment, and you valleys, foundations of the earth, for the Lord will judge his people and with Israel. For the firm foundations of the earth, which are interpreted as the seventy valleys and foundations of the earth, Symmachus and Theodotion translated it, and the ancient foundations of the earth: but the fifth edition presented the Hebrew itself, Ethanim, the foundations of the earth. Therefore, the first voice of the prophet is: Hear what the Lord is saying. Then God speaks to the prophet: Rise up, contend with judgment against the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Again, the prophet, as he had been commanded, speaks to the mountains, and not only to the mountains, but also to the strong foundations of the earth, and says, Hear, O mountains, the judgment of the Lord, and you strong foundations of the earth. He gives the reason why he compels them to hear. Because the judgment of the Lord will be pronounced upon his people, and with Israel it will be judged. They have transferred hills and valleys to the mountains to which the prophet speaks and to the strong foundations of the earth, understanding this, as it seems to me, that the people have done nothing worthy to be heard from the mountains, either from the hills that are inferior to the height of the mountains, or from the valleys submerged in the deepest part. Arise, he says, contend in judgment before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. He commands those who are sitting, lying, sleeping, or dead to arise, according to what the Apostle says: Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light (Ephesians 5:14). Arise from the dead, so that you may walk in newness of life, that you may leave the earth and strive for higher things. And contend in judgment against the mountains, which I believe to signify no one other than the Angels, to whom the care of human matters is entrusted, as the Song of Deuteronomy concords with the same: When the Most High divided the nations, when he scattered the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God (Deuteronomy 32:8). Hello, we are the administrators of the spirit, sent to minister to those who will inherit salvation. And strive for justice, so that whether mountains or hills ((or valleys)) are found, it may not be considered unworthy of the people whom I have appointed, or that the blame be removed from the people and referred to the leaders. Let us read the Apocalypse of John the Apostle, in which the Angels of the Churches are praised and accused for their virtues and vices, for which they are said to preside. For just as sometimes the fault lies with the bishops, sometimes with the people; and often the teacher sins, often the student; sometimes it is the fault of the father, sometimes of the son, so that they may be taught either well or poorly: in this way, in the judgment of God, either a charge will be brought against the angels, if they do not carry out everything that pertains to their duty, or against the people, if they have disregarded those who do everything themselves. There are those who interpret the mountains and hills and the strong foundations of the earth as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the other patriarchs, to whom it is as if they were listeners and authors, and who are summoned to judgment, for the cause of the people of Israel may be investigated. Others believe that mountains, hills, and valleys are inhabited by angels, as we said above, either serving God in the heavens, or governing over humans on this earth, or being stationed below, among those who have become earthly due to their own fault, they are said to be the foundations of the earth: concerning which foundations and elsewhere we find it written: A fire is kindled in my wrath, it shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains (Deut. 32:22). The strong and ancient foundations of the earth (whose cause the earth has not passed until now, and hanging over the void, remains balanced) are the merits of the righteous, of whom the Apostle speaks: Built upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2:20). Therefore, just as the apostles, prophets, and the entire chorus of martyrs are the strong foundations of the earth, so according to the Septuagint, the valleys and cliffs, which are more significantly called φάραγγες in Greek, are their foundations, who have received the image of the dwelling place (Mss. choici). Therefore, the judgment of the Lord will be with His people, and with Israel it will be judged. He who could, as it were, inflict punishments like God for the sins of a sinful people, does not want to appear mighty, but just, and calls sinners to judgment, according to the prophecy: Come, let us argue it out, says the Lord (Isaiah 43:26), even now He calls the people of Israel, with the presence of Angels and all creatures, if there is anything to be answered, so that God may be justified in His words and prevail when He is judged (Psalm 50).

6:3-5

(Verse 3 onwards) O my people, what have I done to you, and how have I wearied you? Answer me! For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember, I pray, what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the Lord. LXX: My people, what have I done to you, or how have I troubled you? Answer me: for I brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, and sent before you Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam. My people, remember what Balak, king of Moab, devised against you, and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him from Seir unto Gilgal; that the righteousness of the Lord might be known. Symmachus interpreted 'justitiis' or 'justitia' as 'misericordias', and where LXX Shanis; all translated it as Settim. It is the place where Balak, the king of the Moabites, gathered an army against Israel, like the trees that still grow through the desert of Mount Sinai. For in the LXX, whether it be the Ark of the Covenant, or the altar and tabernacle, and other things made of imperishable wood, they are called Settim in Hebrew, which resemble a tree that we commonly call the White Thorn. Therefore, I believe that both LXX σχίνον and σχοῖνοι have been interpreted as lentisk; but gradually, due to a mistake made by copyists, σχοῖνοι, meaning ropes, were read instead of σχίνοις, meaning lentisks. Therefore, God speaks to the people of Israel and challenges them to a judgment, granting them permission to argue against Him. My people, what have I done to you that I should not have done? Or how have I wearied you? Although this is not found in Hebrew. But the father is saddened by his son being flogged, and he visits the sins of the sheep with the shepherd's rod. How have I been troublesome to you? Or, as it is more significantly written in Hebrew, how have I burdened you with my labor? Will you interpret my favors as an insult, and while desiring Egyptian melons and meats, will you grieve being brought out of the land of Egypt, and being freed from the house of slavery with my help, because I have given you Moses as your leader, my friend, and Aaron as your priest, and Miriam as your prophetess? But if this seems insignificant to you, remember that at that time, when Balak, the king of Moab, hired Balaam, a diviner, to curse you and how, against his own will, Balaam, desiring to curse you, blessed you instead (Numbers 22): from Shittim to Gilgal, surveying the entire army of Israel with his eyes and changing places, as if I could not continue going with you and passing over with you. And I did this so that my mercy and justice would be known to you, who love you so much, that even though I curse the blasphemers every day with my mouth, I have not allowed myself to curse you as an enemy. The Hebrews interpret this passage, where it is said, 'from Sethim to Galgal, that you may know the justices of the Lord' (Numbers 25), in this way: from the time you committed fornication in Madian, until the time when Saul was anointed king in Galgal (1 Samuel 10), recall the memory of the evils you have done, and how much good I have done for you, and you will know my mercy towards you. This is how God spoke to carnal Israel according to history. But we, who desire to contemplate the glory of the Lord with an unveiled face, truly have the father Abraham, let us hear when we have sinned against disputing God, and let us be accused by the magnitude of his benefits. For we have served Pharaoh and the Egyptian people, and we have made mud and bricks. And he redeemed us who gave himself as redemption for all, so that we may declare those who were redeemed by the Lord, whom he redeemed from the hand of enemies, and whom he gathered from the regions, for his mercy endures forever. He also sent before our face Moses, the spiritual law, and Aaron, the great high priest, not having a typological Ephod, but carrying the truth, and having on his forehead the seal of holiness that God the Father has signed. And he sent Mary, the prophetess, and she not only accomplished this for us, but also delivered us from the hands of our enemies. For let us remember what he had intended against us, who wanted to devour and to ridicule our congregation, the true devil Balak. For Balak signifies 'the emptying out,' that is, 'depriver,' the king of the paternal water: indeed, according to another etymology, Moab is said to mean paternal water. Therefore, when Balak plotted against us, and he plotted against us through his empty people, which is interpreted as Balaam, God did not allow us to fall under his curses; but on the contrary, He blessed us, compelled by the truth of the matter, the empty people of the nations, born of the one who is in the skin: for Beor signifies 'in the skin,' always devoted to flesh and works of death. And the empty people responded for us, sprung from the one who is entirely in the skin, always changing places, or standing upon thorns, or upon ropes, so that we may also follow the error of the Vulgate edition. But according to the saying of the Savior, the cares of this world, and riches, and pleasures are in which the people are vain. (Matthew 13, Mark 5). But what stands in the ropes, namely in the chains of sins (for each one is bound by the ropes of their own sins (Proverbs 5)), and Isaiah is a witness, saying: Woe to those who draw out their sins like a long rope, and like the strap of a young heifer, their iniquities (Isaiah 5, 18). Therefore, if it stands, it only stands among thorns and ropes; if, however, it wishes to walk around, it does not have a stable step, but is always wavering and unstable, and it reaches even to Gilgal, which means rolling, that is, volatility or instability. If ever we see some rise up against us, and they thirst for our blood with eager jaws, and by the unexpected providence of God, they become for us, who they came against, let us say, 'Balaam came from ropes to Gilgal,' so that the justice of God may be known.

6:6-7

(Vers. 6, 7.) What shall I offer to the Lord? Shall I bow down before the Most High God? Shall I offer burnt offerings to Him, and yearling calves? Can the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fattened goats? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? LXX: Where shall I find the Lord? Shall I seek my God on high? Shall I seek Him in burnt offerings, in yearling calves? May the Lord receive in the thousands of rams, or in the ten thousands of fat goats? If I offer my firstborn for my impiety: the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul. God has called the people to judgment: he, knowing his own sin, does not want to contend, but to plead, and yet he has no confidence in his own prayers. For nothing is worthy to be offered to God for sin, and no humility can cleanse the stains of transgressions, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and calves, and the marrow-burning holocaust, and the blood of rams and fat goats, to wash away the filth of the soul. Will I, he says, give my firstborn for my crime, as it is described that the king of Moab did (2 Kings 3)? Or the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul, as Jephthah did, offering his daughter for the rashness of his vow (Judith 11)? Therefore we who are of the people of God, knowing that not every living creature will be justified in his sight (Psalm 142), and saying: I have become like an animal before you (Psalm 73:22-23), repenting for our sins, we doubt and say: Where shall I find the Lord, shall I receive my exalted Lord? How can I capture him as he flees? How much cleanliness will I be able to prepare for the Trinity's lodging? Should I seize him in burnt offerings, so that I offer myself as a whole burnt offering to him, or in one-year-old calves, so that I, deserting milk and coming to solid food, may become worthy of the acceptable food in the year of the Lord? If I offer a thousand rams, if I offer ten thousand goats, and if I spiritually understand and present all the Levitical sacrifices in myself, and if a thousand and ten thousand fall from my side, yet I will not be able to give anything worthy in which I can apprehend or receive God. If I give my firstborn for impiety, and the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul: indeed I will give whatever is first in me, but for my sin and impiety I will offer nothing worthy to God. Therefore, even David prays and says: Wash me more and more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my iniquities, and my sin is always against me (Psalm 50, 3). Only the blood is offered worthily for the sin of the soul: and the blood, not of calves, nor of rams, nor of goats, but one's own blood is offered worthily, as the prophet says and asks: What shall I repay to the Lord for all that he has repaid to me? And afterwards, responding, I will receive the chalice of salvation and invoke the name of the Lord. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. (Ps. CXV). But we do not give the blood itself, but we give it back. And what is similar? When the righteous person died for sinners, the Son of God died for men, shall we sinners and men die for the confession of his name?

6:8

(Verse 8) I will show you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. LXX: It has been told to you, O man, what is good, or what the Lord requires of you: only to do justice, and to love mercy, and to be prepared to walk with your God. For you hesitate, O people of Israel, indeed the entire human race (for I am not speaking specifically to the Jewish people, but generally to all mankind, my message reaches everyone), how you can appease God for your sins if you do not have victims with which your wickedness can be atoned: I will answer you, what God seeks, indeed I have shown it already in the Law. For it is written in Deuteronomy: And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his statutes, which I command you today for your good? (Deut. X, 12) The Lord asks of us, seeking our necessary salvation, demands to receive what is profitable for the giver, so that we may exercise judgment, that is, do nothing without reason and counsel, and consider before our mind judges what it should do, and afterward complete it in action; so that we may love mercy, and not be merciful as if compelled or by necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver (II Cor. IX). And let us not say, go today, and return tomorrow, and I will give to you. And when we shall have done judgment, and loved mercy, what reward shall we receive? We shall walk with the Lord our God, as Enoch walked with God according to the faith of the Hebrew volumes (Genesis 5; Ecclesiasticus 44), and pleased him, and was not found, because God had translated him. For you have said, in what shall I obtain the Lord, or in what shall I apprehend him? I promise you more, do judgment, and love mercy, and you shall walk with your God. Certainly, to walk with God is not a reward, but a commandment. Just as we are commanded to do justice and love mercy, so we are instructed to be prepared to walk with our Lord God; we should not sleep at any hour, we should not be secure at any time, but always expect the coming of the father of the household, and fear the day of judgment, and in the night of this world say: I sleep, but my heart is awake (Song of Solomon 5:2). Theodotius expressed more significantly the phrase 'Verbum Esne' (which the Septuagint translated as 'ready to go and we have said, anxious to walk') as 'καὶ ἀσφαλίζου τοῦ πορεύεσθαι μετὰ Ἐλωαίχ', that is, 'and be careful to walk diligently with your God'. Or, as the fifth edition translated, 'καὶ φροντίζειν', meaning to act diligently and have this care, to walk with your God. For whoever says they believe in Christ should walk as He walked (1 John 2:6). And the Apostle Paul said: 'Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.' (I Cor. 11)

The voice of the Lord cries out to the city, and salvation will be to those who fear your name. The Septuagint version says: The voice of the Lord will cry out to the city, and those who fear his name will be saved. In the Hebrew, this is the beginning of another chapter, but in the Septuagint, it is the end of the previous chapter. It means: God asks nothing else of you, O man, but that you do justice, love mercy, and be ready to walk with your God. For the voice of the Lord is heard in his city, the Church, and in the holy Scriptures, it resounds every day, that not only those who love mercy, but also those who are lowly and still fear the name of the Lord, may be saved by his teaching and mercy. But if the beginning of the following chapter is, let us recount according to the story, what is said about the metropolis of the ten tribes, which, as Michaeas prophesied, was captured, and let us say: The Lord rebukes Samaria, and he threatens the blows that are to come, so that the people of Judah, either out of fear of the name of the Lord, or out of fear of suffering other punishments, may themselves, being seized by fear, obtain salvation. For when a city is plagued by pestilence, not only the wise, but even the foolish become more prudent. And this itself applies to sinners in general and to the righteous, so that the suffering of others becomes an example to the rest. Indeed, the Lord also interprets this in the Gospel concerning those on whom the tower in Siloam fell (Luke 13): that they were not the only sinners among the people, but rather that their punishment would provoke the others to repentance.

6:10-16

(Verse 10 and following). Listen, you who are wise, and who will approve of it? The fire is still burning in the house of the wicked, the treasure of impiety, and the measure of anger is not yet full. Shall I justify the wicked scales and the deceitful weights of the bag? In them, her rich ones are filled with iniquity, and those who dwell in her speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. And so I have begun to strike you with destruction because of your sins. You will eat, but not be satisfied, and your humiliation will be in your midst; you will try to save, but you will not succeed; and those whom you do save, I will give over to the sword. You shall sow, and not reap: you shall tread the olive, and not anoint yourself with oil; and the must, and you shall not drink wine. And you have kept the precepts of Omri, and all the works of the house of Achab; and you have walked in their wills, that I should give you up to destruction, and the inhabitants thereof to hissing, and you shall bear the reproach of my people. If the unrighteous is justified on the scales, and fraudulent weights on the balance, by which they have filled the riches of their impiety (or yours), and those who dwell (or dwelt) in it speak wickedly, and their tongue is exalted in their mouth. And I have afflicted you with destruction because of your sins: you will eat, but not be satisfied; I will cast you into yourself, and you will grasp, but not save; and all those who are saved will be handed over to the sword: you will sow, but not reap; you will tread the olive, but not be anointed with oil; and you will crush the grapes, but not drink wine; and the laws of my people will be scattered, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their councils, to deliver you to destruction, and its inhabitants to hissing, and you will receive reproach from the peoples. In this chapter, there are many discrepancies from the Hebrew truth, especially in the beginning: 'Hear, three, and who will adorn the city? And the legitimate people of mine will be scattered.' For this reason we have substituted 'And you have kept the commandments of Amri' for the sake of consistency in the narrative, even though in Hebrew it is written: 'And the commandments of Amri were kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab.' For if it had been written in Hebrew 'Ammi' (), then the LXX would have translated correctly as 'my people.' But now, since it is written 'Amri' (), and the letter 'Res' added, it signifies not the name of a people, but the father Ahab, about whom the history of King wrote (3 Kings 16), there is no doubt that there is an error. Finally, after the father's name, the son is named, and it is said, and all the deeds of the house of Ahab. Let us return, therefore, to the beginning of the chapter. And first, speaking literally, we strive to grasp the spiritual meaning while you pray. Listen, O ten tribes of Samaria, whom the Lord testifies to: there is still fire, that is, wickedness, in the house of the impious Amri, and the treasures of impiety persist in the royal house. Do you want to hear in detail with what evils your city is filled? Learn: By provoking the lesser measure of God's wrath, using deceptive scales and different weights, and selling in one weight and buying in another, they buy and sell merchandise (Prov. XI; Deut. XXV). And if the poor were to do this, poverty could justify the crime. But now the rich, full not so much with wealth as with iniquity, because all their wealth is gained through the plundering of others. A congregation of wealth is followed by deceit, and a hand accustomed to hide treasures possesses a deceitful tongue. Truth brings poverty, falsehood brings wealth. When your leaders did this, I did not immediately overthrow you; but I began to strike gradually and admonish with various blows. I sent hunger upon you, I sent thirst, I sent sickness, and hostile devastation all around: the harvest did not yield crops, the pressed olive did not produce oil, the barren vines denied wine. Against injustices, deceitful measures, and fraudulent weights, I inflicted these punishments. However, since you have kept all the ceremonies of idolatry that the wicked king Amri established (3 Kings 16ff), and all the works of the house of Ahab and Jezebel, you have preserved for my law, I have been moved by your wickedness to give you and your inhabitants over to a hissing and a reproach, so that while you are captured by the Assyrians, you are conquered like the people of God, and because of you my name is blasphemed among the nations (Rom. 2:24). It should be noted in the present place that where it is read, 'and you shall bear the shame of my people': or, as the Septuagint translated it, 'you shall receive the reproaches of the peoples,' in Hebrew it is written 'Ammi,' which means 'my people.' Therefore, if it sounds bad that I, the son of my people, was transferred for Amri, my people. We have expressed what seemed to us according to the Hebrew until now: now returning to the translation of the LXX interpreters, let us discuss each one as best we can. The Samaritan is called upon to listen, who has separated herself from the people of God. And it is said to her, 'You futilely make idols, you skillfully fashion golden calves with your own hand, and you desire to build another metropolis like Jerusalem: for who can adorn a city?' Is the fire, which is kindled by the burning darts of the devil; and the house of the wicked, which according to its stubbornness and unrepentant heart treasures up wrath for itself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Rom. II, 5)? And does injustice increase wickedness, so that it not only snatches away from the house of God, which is the Church, but also arrogantly and disdainfully devastates what belongs to others? Can one who deceitfully gathers riches from the testimonies of the Scriptures without balance and measure be justified, riches which are the treasures of wickedness? For when the Lord commands, 'You shall not have in your bag unequal weights, a great and a small' (Deut. XXV): these people, for the sake of shameful gain, always show favoritism in judgment, and in the same case they judge the rich and the poor, not according to the merit of the case, but according to the disparity of their wealth. And the inhabitants of their city, who think they are adorned by wicked teachings and perverse doctrine, speak falsehood and set their mouth on high, and despise the simplicity of the Ecclesiastical people. Whereas the most merciful God does not strike them equally, but strives to admonish them gradually through blows, saying: And I will begin to strike you with destruction because of your sins; and the sense is: O city that the heretics want to build, I will strike you, so that you may perish, not for annihilation, but according to what you are, a sinner. It follows: You will eat, and you will not be satisfied. For they read, and do not understand; and feasting on the words of Scriptures, they suffer from a lack of truth. And I will cast you out," he says, "and you will seize, and you will not save; and whoever is saved, will be handed over to the sword. By your own judgment, I will abandon you; and after seeking many things, finding nothing, understanding your error, you will see that you cannot be saved by all your teachings. But whoever thinks they are satisfied, and is not cast out by themselves, nor grasps the truth, will be handed over to the sword and will be educated by punishments. Therefore, you will sow, O three, and O most wicked city, which heretics build with fire, injustice, insults, deceitful scales, and fraudulent bags; you will sow, but not reap; you will press olives, but not anoint yourself with oil; you will gather grapes, but not drink wine. It is indeed profitable for you, once your error is known, not to have disciples, not to anoint your head with the oil of sinners, not to be intoxicated by drinking the wine of Sodom. And the rightful people of mine, or rather the people of Amri, and all the works of the house of Ahab, those who have arisen as leaders in heresy, will be scattered. We can refer either to opposing powers or to heretics, as was the case with Marcion and Basilides, and recently Arius and Eunomius. And you have followed their desires, namely those of Omri and Ahab. And it is rightly said, in their desires. For the doctrine of wicked teachers is not the doctrine of God, but the inventions of their own hearts. And I will deliver you to destruction, so that you may perish according to what you are, heretical. And your inhabitants into a hissing, or that you may follow the hissing of a good shepherd according to Zechariah, saying: I will whistle for them and gather them, for I have redeemed them (Zechariah 10:8). And certainly into the hissing of the dragon, that is, into the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved (I Cor. V), and let the ones being rebuked learn not to blaspheme (I Tim. I). And let them endure all of this so that they may understand their error, that they have borne the reproaches and sins of many peoples and nations. I know that some have referred to the Church, which we have interpreted as surpassing heresies. But how the names of Amri and Ahab, the leaders of Samaria, can be related to Jerusalem and Judah, under whose names the Church is interpreted, I do not quite understand.

7:1-4

(Chapter 7, Verses 1 onwards) Woe is me, for I have become like one who gathers the grapes of the vineyard in autumn: there is no cluster to eat; my soul longed for the early figs. The holy one has perished from the earth, and there is no upright person among mankind. They all lie in wait for blood; each hunts his brother to death. They declare their evil deeds as good; the ruler demands, and the judge accepts bribes, and the great one speaks of the cravings of his own soul, and they trouble it. The best among them is like a thornbush, and the most upright is like a thorn from a fence. Woe is me, for I have become like one who gathers straw in the harvest, and like grape clusters in the vineyard, when there is no first-ripe fig for my hunger, which my soul craves. Woe is me, for the reverent one has perished from the earth, and there is no one who corrects among men. They are all judged in bloodshed; each one of them inflicts trouble on his neighbor, and they prepare their hands for evil. The ruler makes demands, and the judge speaks peaceable words; his desire is for the longing of his soul. And I will take away their goods, like a consuming moth, and walking over the ruler in the day of your watchfulness. In the aforementioned captivity and ten tribes and two (For the word of the Lord has come to Micah the Morestite concerning Samaria and Jerusalem), the prophet laments that no just person is found in the land who can resist the anger of God and stand as a wall in the middle. In vain, he says, I have spoken: in vain I sought the last clusters of the vine and the destroyed city; and since there is no bunch to eat, I will at least take immature figs, which the Hebrews call "Bechchora", that is, thick figs, as food: as if to say, not finding bread because of the magnitude of the famine, I have sought scraps and chaff. The saint has perished from the earth, and the righteous among men are no more. Everywhere there are traps, everywhere there is deceit. Innocent blood is shed. Due to greed and lust, kinship is disregarded. Not only do they commit evil deeds, but they also defend them. They change names and claim that what is evil is good. The rulers do not accept gifts from those offering them, but they force their subjects to give and demand. And in rendering judgment, the judge treats another as he himself is judged by another, so that they may mutually favor each other in their crimes and defend themselves in the crimes of others. Whoever is great and almost most learned in the Law, speaks not the will of God, but his own will. And they have disturbed it, either the city, or the truth, or the land, of which it is said above: The holy one has perished from the earth. For whoever is the best among them, like a sharp thorn, pierces and holds, injuring the one who approaches him, and grasping with a hooked tooth: and whoever is found to be upright, like a thorn from a fence, so that there may be found pain where help was supposed to be. According to the Hebrew text, however, according to the Septuagint, who differ in some respects, and at the end of the chapter they translated completely differently, this is the meaning that seems to me: The prophetic or apostolic discourse laments, in general, the human race, which has in vain cast the seeds of doctrines, and instead of crops and grain, the late reaper finds only empty straw and useless stalks, and he cannot even find small grapes in the vineyard, and so on until the end of the chapter. For if it is a blessing for the speaker to be heard by the listener's ears, and the desire of the wise is the ear of the listener, and the understanding of the listener is the joy of the speaker; on the contrary, the grief of the teacher is a bad disciple, with Jeremiah's words also fitting this complaint: I have not profited, nor has anyone else profited me (Jeremiah). There are those who believe that these words are spoken from the perspective of the Savior, who is the cause of not finding worthy works in such a great multitude of believers and in the whole world of human kind, and who also says in Psalm 29: What profit is there in my blood, while I descend into corruption? Although others assert that these words do not fit his person at all, as he says: Woe is me, because I have become as one who gathers straw in the harvest; he who spoke in the Gospel: Lift up your eyes and see the regions, for they are already white for harvest (John 4:35). And elsewhere: The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few (Matthew 9:35). Therefore, those who want to understand this from the perspective of the Savior say that it is not surprising if he says: Woe is me, who wept in Jerusalem and shed tears at the death of Lazarus (Luke 19). But also this, I have become like one who gathers straw in the harvest, they apply it to the end of the age: and the harvest is interpreted to signify this, and they say that at that time this prophecy can be fulfilled, when, with the increase of wickedness, the love of many will grow cold, and when the Son of Man comes, he will scarcely find faith on earth (Mat. XIV, 24): for then, like straw after the harvest, and like grapes after the vintage, there will be few found among them who will maintain faith amidst the devastation of all things, and they believe that this statement, spoken from the perspective of the assumed man, approves of what follows: Woe is me, my soul: of whom he was speaking: My soul is sorrowful even unto death (Mat. XXVI, 38). He will perish (or He will be destroyed) returning from the earth, either by the Antichrist killing the saints, or by everyone collapsing due to the magnitude of scandals. And there is no one to correct among men: all are judged by blood, not by slight and small sins, but by the greatest sins and those related to bloodshed. Proximity, friendship, and kinship will not delay the crime: all will raise their hands to evil, so that even one who couldn't commit evil, yet, while preparing the hand, may sin by the will. The ruler himself seeks, and the judge speaks peaceful words; for he receives gifts, the desire of his soul. And because this is evident, and I avoid the envy of rulers and judges, leaving it to the understanding of the reader, I will only add this: Gifts blind the eyes even of the wise (Deut. XVI, 19): they also give life to the soul, which they should not have given life to, and they kill her who lives by her own merit and virtues, and they do this because of the gifts they demand shamelessly, and accept them more shamefully. To those whom the Lord threatens, saying: 'And I will take away their goods, which they think are good, but which appear good to them. Moreover, the truth of the matter will never be called good, which both deprives the giver and kills the receiver: although it is not so much a threat as a blessing, to take away evil from them, and for the Lord Himself and His divine word to enter into their consciences like a moth eating away whatever is perverse, and to make a devastation of plunder and evil thoughts, and to walk above the measure and rule of truth, and to lead back those who were led by false opinions to what is straight; and to do this in the light of truth, and on that day when those who are holy and elected from the Church ascend to the watchtower, and in the height of their learning and works, they will discuss heavenly matters.'

7:5-7

(Verse 5-7) Your day of reckoning has come, your visitation is here. Now there will be destruction: do not trust your friend, and do not rely on your leader. Guard the doors of your mouth against the one who lies in your bosom; for a son insults his father, and a daughter rises up against her mother; a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and enemies are those of a man's own household. But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for God, my savior; my God will hear me. LXX: Woe, woe, your vengeance has come, now there will be weeping for them: do not trust in friends, nor hope in leaders. Beware of those who lie with you, do not trust them, for a son brings shame to his father, and a daughter rises against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: a man's enemies are the members of his own household. But I will look to the Lord, I will wait for God my savior: my God will hear me. Except for the beginning of the chapter, both editions agree in the rest of the parts, and in the meantime, according to the historical context, it indicates the day of the siege of Samaria or Jerusalem, which had been eagerly awaited and feared, and its visitation, meaning captivity, saying: Your devastation has come: now there will be devastation for them, that is, for the inhabitants, or siege: Mabucha () indeed signifies more πολιορκίαν and φρούρησιν, that is, siege and custody, than devastation in Hebrew. Therefore, do not believe the words of prophets, nor lend your ear to the deceitful flattery of the divine; because if trust is rare among dear names and blood relations, how much more so in those who flatter you, lying for their own gain, and who command not what is useful for the sick, but what is delightful and pleasing! Do not trust a friend; for Achitophel rose up against David (2 Samuel 15), and true Achitophel Judas rose up against Christ (Matthew 26). And, do not trust in a leader, like the men of Shechem trusted in Abimelech (Judith 9). They made him king, and they were oppressed by him. Guard the gates of your mouth from the one who sleeps in your bosom (Ibid., 16): do not allow what Samson endured from Delilah (2 Kings 16). For a son brings shame to his father; notably Absalom to David: he defiled not only the kingdom, but also his father's concubines with incestuous relations. A daughter rises against her mother: although we may not find direct evidence in the Holy Scriptures, there are so many examples in everyday life that we should mourn their magnitude rather than seek them out. Nurus contra socrum suam: ut uxor Esau consurrexit contra Rebeccam (Gen. XXVI). Inimici hominis, viri domestici ejus. Hic exempla non quaero, cum plura sint, quam ut testimoniis indigeamus. Cum ergo haec ita se habeant, nolite credere, Samaria (( Al. Samariae)) et Jerusalem, pseudoprophetis. Ego autem, inquit propheta, ad Dominum aspiciam, exsultabo in Deum Salvatorem meum, sive Jesum meum, et audiet me Deus meus. The Seventy interpreters follow, who say, Woe, woe, thy revenges are come, that is, the punishments which are to be inflicted for sins. For the Lord saith, Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, saith the Lord (Rom. XII, 19; Deut. XXXII, 35). And in another place: The days of thy retribution are come (Hosea IX, 7). For the Lord doth avenge the clamours of them that cry unto him day and night, saying: How long, O holy and true Lord, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth (Rev. VI, 10)? So the avengers have come, and now there will be their lamentation, that is, of the avengers, so that those who laughed before may mourn, and immediately departing from the world, they may endure the torments, which that once richly robed and abundant in delights man endures in Hell, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Luke 16; Matthew 8, 13). But what follows, 'now there will be'; understand either at the end of each person's life, or at the consummation of all things, and on the day of judgment, when the avengers will come upon all people. Therefore, do not trust friends, because every friend deceives through deception, and one who is a friend because of something is not as much a friend to the one they pretend to love (for he is called a friend by love) as to the thing that they cherish. When asked what a friend was, someone responded: Another self. But if the example of the Pythagoreans is opposed to us, who pledged themselves as sureties to a tyrant, we say that this is not a general statement against all friends and affections of love, but was uttered by God not against all time, but specifically concerning that which the Apostle says: In the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:1-2), and so on. For then a brother will betray a brother, and a father his son, and children will rise against their parents and have them put to death (Matthew X, 35, 36). But even now faith is rare: what is said on the lips is different from what is in the heart: the poison of the soul is hidden by the honey of the tongue. Many are friends of the wealthy, but they depart from the poor as well those who appear to be their friends. Hence it is said: If you have a friend, possess him in times of temptation (Ecclesiasticus VI, 7). I read in a certain Controversy: A friend is sought for a long time, found with difficulty, and difficult to keep. Theophrastus wrote three volumes about friendship, extolling it above all other virtues, yet also declaring that it is rare among human affairs. There is also Cicero's book On Friendship, which he dedicated to Laelius: in which he states what is often said among our people: Let our friend be like old wine, and let us drink it with pleasure, the word themselves almost the same. Friendship either accepts or creates equals: where there is inequality and one person is superior and the other subservient, there is not so much friendship as flattery. And elsewhere we read: Let the same soul be a friend. And the lyric poet praying for a friend says: Preserve, he says, the half of my soul. Therefore, do not believe in friends, that is, in those men who seek profit in friendships. If you want to delight in true friendship, be a friend of God, like Moses who spoke to God as a friend to a friend. Be a friend, like the Apostles, to whom the Savior said: I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master desires; but I call you friends, because you have persevered with me in all my temptations. Friendship is delicate, which follows the successes and wealth of friends. Such people do not seem to me to be friends, but to love themselves. Let us consider more carefully the words of the Lord: But I call you friends, he says. And he gives the reasons why he calls them friends: Because you have persevered with me in temptation, and have not given up until now: but in all, he says, my temptations. Indeed, it sometimes happens that one who has persevered with us in one temptation is defeated by others and departs. Secondly, it is commanded: Do not hope in leaders, for cursed is the man who has hope in man (Jeremiah 17:5). In man there is vain hope, and true hope is in God. Therefore, Paul speaks: And from among yourselves, men will rise up speaking perverse things (Acts 20:30). And the Lord Himself through the prophet: The leaders of my people do not know me, the foolish sons are senseless and do not understand: they are wise to do evil, but they do not know how to do good (Jeremiah 4:22). Indeed, they were called leaders, he says, both my leaders and the leaders of my people. But because they did not know me and destroyed the meaning of the word by their actions, therefore the children are foolish and unintelligent: they have wisdom only to subjugate a simple flock to themselves and trample them under their feet; however, they do not know how to do good and govern the people. Do not believe in leaders (or judges), not in bishops, not in priests, not in deacons, not in any dignity of men. Nor do I mean that you should not be subject to such authorities in the Church: For whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death (Lev. XX, 9). And the Apostle teaches that we should obey the authorities in the Church; but it is one thing to honor leaders, another to place hope in leaders (I Pet. II). Let us honor the bishop, let us defer to the priest, let us rise for the deacon; and yet let us not place our hope in them: for the hope of man is in vain, and our certain hope is in the Lord (I Thess. IV). Third commandment: Guard against believing a woman who shares your bed. Hence the Apostle calls women vessels of weakness and orders that honor be shown to them by their husbands. For man was not created for woman, but woman for man (Ephesians 5). And he says, 'Wife, fear your husband' (1 Corinthians 11). To fear one's wife is to love one's husband with reverence. Men only to love; for love is the perfection of the saints. He says, 'Men, love your wives and do not be loved by them' (Ephesians 5:25); even though they may provoke anger and do things for which they deserve to endure bitterness. For this indeed signifies to be embittered: but you should not render them in return with bitterness. But also Solomon in Ecclesiastes: And he said, I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these. Perhaps, having learned from his own example, he does not trust women, through whom he had offended God. But also the sublime Poet (not another Homer, as Lucillus suspects about Ennius; but the first Homer among the Romans):

.. . . . . . . Varium et mutabile semper Femina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Plenae sunt historiae Graecae et Latinae, quanti viri ab uxoribus suis decepti sint eorumque vita sit prodita. De Scripturis autem et Dalilae, cujus supra fecimus mentionem, et alterius ante Dalilam testantur exempla, quae arcanum Samson septem dierum expressit lacrymis, et amore simulato, quod latebat, invenit. Unde Samson postea loquitur: Nisi domuissetis vitulam meam, non invenissetis propositionem meam (Jud. XIII, 19) . So far, it is commanded that we not trust easily in friends, leaders, and wives. And the reason given is not sufficient in response to the proposition; for it is said: Because a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and the enemies of a man are those of his own household. For what does it pertain to a friend, a leader, a wife, if a son and daughter and daughter-in-law rise against their father, mother, and mother-in-law? Therefore, it seems to me that it can be connected in this way with the previous statements: Do not trust in friends, leaders, and wives, who can be changed and can be for a time: since even a son and daughter, forgetting their upbringing and infancy, rise against the authors of their lives and bodies, and it is a crime to harm them, whom it is also a crime to injure with one's face. But this explanation does not at all apply to the daughter-in-law rising up against her mother-in-law, and to a man, to whom his domestic enemies are hostile. Terence in Hecyra:

What is this? All mothers-in-law hate their daughters-in-law: which, although it may be ambiguous, is nevertheless almost natural: that daughters-in-law hate their mothers-in-law, and mothers-in-law hate their daughters-in-law. This prophetic discourse describes the consummation and end of the world, and what kind of generation will precede the coming of the Antichrist. Now we must discuss according to the previous interpretation, in which we spoke about heretics: Listen, O three, and who adorned the city? Was it not the fire and the house of the wicked? And again, concerning the Church: Woe to me, for I have become like one who gathers straw in the harvest. And again: Woe to me, my soul: reverence ((Al. returning)) from the earth has perished; and among men there is no one who corrects. And furthermore: The prince demands, and the judge has spoken peaceful words, the desire of his soul. Hence, a double curse follows: Woe, woe, your vengeance has come: now there will be lamentation, and let us speak the scripture concerning heretics: Do not trust in friends, O simple people, and in wicked leaders who promise to be friends and leaders of heresy: for they seek not your salvation, but their own gain, and they trample the flock deceived by them underfoot: and be cautious not to believe anything of her who sleeps with you, whom I can only understand to be flesh, so that we may not easily believe the flattery of the flesh, lest the hardness of the soul and the manly steadfastness be softened by her allurements. For the son who is born of God, neglecting his Creator, blasphemes him by whom he was created, as the Scripture says: 'Did not one God create you? Did not one father create all of you?' (Malachi 2:10). And he despises the heavenly soul of Jerusalem, and he scorns the Church as a mother, and whoever scorns her will die by death. And the daughter-in-law rises against her mother-in-law, which seems difficult to understand figuratively; but whoever reads the Song of Songs and understands the bridegroom of the soul, the word of God, and believes in the Gospel, which we have recently translated according to the Hebrews (wherein, in the person of the Savior, it is said: 'My mother recently brought me forth, the Holy Spirit in one of my hairs') (Matthew 10). He will not hesitate to say that the word of God has its origin in the spirit and that the soul, which is the bride of the word, has the Holy Spirit as its mother-in-law, who is called Rua in the feminine gender by the Hebrews. Therefore, heretics, having previously believed in the Scriptures, which were written and published by the Holy Spirit, transfer themselves to new doctrines and the leaven of the Pharisees and the commandments of men. And while they despise the word of God, they do harm to their mother-in-law. And so that you do not doubt, consider the words of Gabriel to Mary: 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God' (Luke 1:35). After this, it follows: 'The enemies of man will be those of his own household.' According to our interpretation, it seems that every man's head is Christ, and Christ is the head of the Church (1 Corinthians 11:3): these are often his enemies, those who are thought to be in his house, that is, in the Church, and do not depart from the head, but go against their own head. They arrogantly promise knowledge of the Scriptures by their own judgement, without a teacher and the grace of the Lord, and they are ignorant and quarrel about questions, contentions, and battles of words. Truly, those who are truly in the house are enemies of the truth. However, we must know that in the Gospel the same words are used as we now read in the Prophet, but according to the context of that place, they have a different meaning. Whether they are taken from the Prophet or accepted by His own authority, it is for us to know, who has spoken both in the Prophets and in the Gospels. But there the Lord says: 'I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be those of his own household." (Matthew 10:35-36) Therefore, let us expound (if indeed we have been able to grasp the meaning of the Scriptures). The holy one understands that charity has grown cold, and that people in the end times will not be lovers of God, but lovers of themselves. They will believe in friends, leaders, wives, sons, daughters, and daughters-in-law, rising up against fathers, mothers, and mothers-in-law. Even the enemies within one's own household. He himself believes in the Lord, and all his contemplation is in his God. And although he may be oppressed by the tribulations and pressures of the world, having no confidence in anyone except the one who says, 'Do not be afraid, I have conquered the world' (John 16:36), he waits for his God and Savior, believing in him and always directing his eyes towards him, hoping to be heard whenever he calls upon him.

7:8-13

(Verse 8 onwards) Do not rejoice, my enemy, over me, for I have fallen: I will rise again. When I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light: I will bear the anger of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he judges my cause and executes judgment for me, and brings me into the light, and I will see his righteousness, and my enemy will behold it, and she will be covered with shame, who says to me: Where is your God? My eyes will see her; now she will be trampled as the mud of the streets. The day will come when your walls will be rebuilt. On that day the law will go forth afar off: on that day it will come even to you from Assyria, and even to fortified cities, and from fortified cities even to the river, and from the river even to the sea, and from the sea even to the mountain. And the land will be a desolation because of its inhabitants, and because of the fruit of their thoughts. LXX: Do not insult me, my enemy: for I have fallen, and I will rise again: if I walk in darkness, the Lord will enlighten me. I will bear the anger of the Lord, for I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light, and I will see His righteousness. My enemy will see this and be covered with shame, the one who said to me, 'Where is your God?' My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled down like mud in the streets. The day of your punishment has come, O Assyria; the time has come for your destruction. The Lord will abolish your power and authority. Your cities will be laid waste, from Tyre to the river, from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. The land and its inhabitants will be scattered because of their wickedness. It seems to me that in the literal sense, Jerusalem speaks against Babylon and the other nations that had insulted it: Do not rejoice in my downfall, for with the mercy of the Lord, I will rise again. After I have sat in captivity, He will bring me out of darkness, and He will be my light. I will endure the wrath of the Lord, for I know that I deserve what I have suffered, until I take vengeance upon the nations, and my judgment is fulfilled. I know that He will bring me into the light, and I will see His justice, and Babylon, my enemy, and the other nations around will be covered in shame, those who now mockingly say: Where is your God, O Lord? My eyes will see her, not long after time, but now and in the present trampled, as if the mud of the streets. Thus far Jerusalem, or rather the prophet speaking on behalf of the people: Now God is brought in responding to Jerusalem: O Jerusalem, the days have come for your walls to be rebuilt, which were destroyed by the Babylonian devastator. On that day a law will be established, or rather an ordinance and command, as interpreted by Symmachus and Theodotion, saying, ἐπιταγὴν καὶ πρόσταγμα; and the meaning is: You will no longer be subject to the rule of the Babylonians, on that day when your walls are rebuilt, people will come to you from Assyria and fortified cities: from the fortified cities, I say, as far as the Jordan, which the people crossed over before, and from the Red Sea, and from all the nations as far as the Dead Sea, which is near your land, and to Mount Zion, from the mountains of Persia and Media, where they were previously taken; and the land will be a remnant of the Chaldeans and those who laid you waste, because of their inhabitants and their wicked deeds. The Jews promise themselves this until today, and in that place where we exposed ourselves: On that day the law will be far-reaching, as it seems to us, and as their wiser ones argue, some frivolously lie and say: On that day, when the walls of Jerusalem were built by Christ, the holy Scriptures of the Law and the Prophets, which are now held by us, will be taken from our hands and given to the Jewish people. For what is said according to the Septuagint, 'a day of smoothing out the edge, your erasure,' is not understood to be in Jerusalem, as we have explained according to the Hebrew; but we understand it to be said even now to Babylon, for it too must be erased and trampled upon like an edge. And that legitimate day will repel, not the legitimate day of God, but the legitimate day that you, Babylon, commanded to be observed against the law of God. And your cities will come to an end, or to division, as the Assyrians fight against you (for Babylon was a city of the Chaldeans, not of the Assyrians). And your fortified cities will be divided by the hostile army, from Tyre to the Tigris River, which you encircle, and from the Great Sea to the Red Sea, which touches your regions as they travel from the side to India. And from mountain to mountain: from the mountains of Judea to the mountains of Media and Persia, all of Mesopotamia and the entire region that is now held by you in the middle, will be subjugated by the empire of the enemies. And the land will be in desolation because of the evil fruits of your studies. Where the Seventy were interpreted, let us know about Tyre, it is written in Hebrew, Masor, (): which word, if it is divided into the preposition Ma and the name Sor, is understood about Tyre; but if it is one word, it signifies a stronghold. Finally, they transferred everything, the territory, the enclosure, and the siege, not from Tyre, as the Septuagint says, but from the fortified city. This is in accordance with the Hebrew, and the prayers of the Israelites and the people of circumcision, as if a superfluous discourse had preceded. Now let us come to the spiritual understanding, and with the Holy Spirit himself as the interpreter, let us explore even the most difficult passages. It seems to me that every soul of Jerusalem, in which the temple of the Lord was built, and the vision of peace, and the knowledge of the Scriptures; and afterwards, having been overcome by sins, was led into captivity, and handed over to torments, speaks against Babylon, that is, the confusion of this world, and against the opposing strength that presides over this world: Do not insult me, my enemy, because I have fallen and will rise again: for the Lord raises the fallen (Ps. 144), and speaks through the prophet. Will he not rise again who falls? (Jer. VIII, 4). And: I do not desire the death of a sinner, but rather that he may be converted and live (Ezek. XXXIII, 11). But if you despise me because I suffer torments, learn from Ezekiel that punishments are inflicted first on the more holy, and it is said by the Lord: Begin with my saints (ibid., IX, 6). For even if I walk in darkness, the Lord is my light. For although the rulers of these dark spirits have deceived me, and I sit in darkness and the shadow of death, and my feet are stuck in dark mountains, nevertheless, while sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, a light has dawned, and the light shines in the darkness (Isaiah, IX, 2). And the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? (Psalm 27:1) And I will speak to Him, and say: Your word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord, and a light to my paths. (Psalm 119:105) For He Himself commanded me, when the darkness of this world comes: Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning in your hands. (Luke 12:35) It follows: I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him: until He justifies my cause, and executes judgment for me, and brings me out into the light, and I shall behold His justice. Every correction for the present time does not seem to be of joy, but of sorrow, and afterwards it will yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore, feeling that the soul has sinned and has the wounds of sins, and lives in dead flesh, and needs cauterization, it steadfastly says to the physician: Burn my flesh, cut the wounds, constrict all the harmful humors and discharge with a harsh hellebore potion. It was my fault to be wounded; let it be my pain to endure so many torments, so that afterwards I may receive healing. And the true physician shows the cause of the medicine to the one who is already safe and secure, and teaches that he has done rightly what he did. Finally, after torture and punishments, the soul is brought out from the outer darkness, and with the last coin restored, it says: I will see his justice, and I will speak: Your judgments are justified, O God. But if Christ has become for us from God wisdom, and justice, and sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1): he who says he sees the justice after the wrath of God, promises to himself the sight of Christ. And this, however, is only about penitents. However, it is much better to not have wounds and not need a doctor. Healing is not the happiness of the healed, but rather the consolation after pain. Therefore, someone who has been healed should be careful not to sin again, lest something worse happen to them again. We read in Leviticus (Lev. 13), if indeed we read with open eyes, that the covering prescribed in the Law does not exclude the view of the inner eye; in fact, leprosy is accustomed to develop in a vesicle and scar from a burn, and to change the color of the hair, and to add a new deformity to the previous disfigurement of the scar. For this reason, so that no one is secure about repentance, because after sin he can say: I will endure the wrath of God because I have sinned against Him, until he justifies my cause, let him sin and need a cautery, and when he is healed, let him be wounded again. But when the Lord brings us into the light, and we see His justice, then our enemy Babylon will see and be covered in confusion, those who previously spoke against us: Where is your God? thinking that Jerusalem cannot be healed after wounds. And our eyes will look upon her, and she will become trampled like the mud of the streets. And because the end of all punishments is the beginning of good things, and pain leads to healing, bricks will be made from her mud, and her destruction will become the formation of bricks. And on that day, the old errors will be cast aside, and the cities that were poorly fortified will come to an end, whether in unity or in division, and they will be separated from the Assyrians; and from Tyre, which means 'confinement', that is, narrowness, other strengths will arise, and there will be discord even among those who delight in the corruption of this world, and they will generate desires in people. And from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain, wars will arise against one another, so that bitterness may fight against bitterness, and a lofty pride may fight against another height, and then it will truly be fulfilled: 'Come, let us go down and confuse their languages, so that each one may not understand the voice of their neighbor' (Gen. XI, 7), for it is profitable indeed for the worst strengths not to have harmony among themselves. And when Satan is divided against Satan, then at last his entire kingdom will be destroyed. And what often happens in great armies, that after the tyrant is slain, his followers divide his kingdom among themselves, rise against each other, and there is civil war among them: this will also happen at the end of the world, when the walls of Jerusalem are built and Babylon falls, and the Assyrians and Tyrians from the river, and from the sea, and from the mountains, that is, all the demon nations will fight among themselves, and with their kingdom destroyed, the kingdom of the Lord Jesus will come, and every knee will bow, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. But so that you may know that the outcome of this rebellion is advantageous, the land of Babylon will be brought to ruin along with all its inhabitants, and the Babylonians will not bear fruit.

7:14-17

(Verse 14 and following) Feed your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, dwelling alone in the forest of Carmel. They will graze in Bashan and Gilead as in ancient times, as in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show (or have shown) them wonders. The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hands over their mouths; their ears will become deaf. They will lick the dust like serpents; they will tremble from their hiding places. They will fear our Lord God, and they will fear you. LXX: Feed your people with your staff, the sheep of your inheritance, who dwell alone in the woods. They will be fed on the mountains of Carmel, in Bashan and Gilead, as in days of old, as in the days when you led them out of the land of Egypt. I will show them wonders. The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will put their hands over their mouths; their ears will be deaf. They will lick the dust like snakes, moving along the ground. They will be in distress in their own territories. They will fear and be afraid of our Lord God; they will fear you. This is what is said: Feed your people with your staff, God the Father speaks to the Son, that is, to our Lord Jesus Christ, that because he is a good shepherd, and he lays down his life for his sheep (John 10), he may feed his people with his staff, and the sheep of his inheritance. And lest we think that the same people are both the sheep, in another place we read: But we are your people, and the sheep of your pasture (Psalm 78:21). The people refers to those who are rational, but the sheep refers to those who are not yet using reason, being content only with simplicity, and they are called the heritage of God."] Both the people and the sheep need the shepherd's staff, of which the Apostle also speaks: 'What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?' (I Cor. IV, 21). I think it was for this reason, because the people of Israel were stiff-necked and always longed for Egyptian meat, that Moses used the staff not only against the Egyptians, whom he struck with ten plagues, but also against the people in the wilderness, with the legal staff, the striking staff, and by breaking all the earthen and fragile vessels. But the Apostles of the Lord Savior, who spoke wisdom among the perfect (I Cor. II), the staff was shaken out of their hands, because perfect love casts out fear (I John IV). But if anyone opposes us, how can it now be said to Christ, that is, to the good shepherd, who is certainly greater than the Apostles, and better, that he should use a staff, when it is a greater advancement not to have a staff, than to use a staff to correct peoples and sheep: we will respond to them according to what the Lord promises to his Apostles, that they will perform greater signs among the people than he himself has done (John XIV). And because the Lord was still speaking to the carnal Israel, and not yet to him who could fully understand the mysteries, therefore it was said about him that he would feed the people and his flock with a rod. However, the apostles had the rod taken from their hands, and the severity of the Law was tempered by the mercy of the Gospel. Furthermore, these people and these sheep are struck and fed with a rod because they had dwelt alone in the wilderness. Indeed, we can apply this to those who, separating themselves from the Church, engage in feasts and friendships with the heathens, as well as to those who, out of hatred for the human race, seek a solitary life, such as we read about Timon in Athens. Not because a solitary and prophetic life, like that of Elijah (1 Kings 17 and 19) and John (Matthew 3 and 11), should be condemned, but because if one despises others and exalts oneself, living in the wilderness of vices, the rod should be corrected. He who dwells alone, and does not dwell in the wilderness, is to be praised for his virtues; but he who is alone and does not do the works of justice, and enjoys only the pleasure of rest, and does not toil in the work and labor of Christ, nor seeks food with his own hands as the Apostle commands (I Cor. IV), and is lifted up in pride: he dwells in the wilderness and wanders among barren trees. However, because he is a good shepherd, his staff strikes in order to correct, and a better prophetic word promises, saying: They will graze on the Carmel and the Galaadite, according to the days of eternity, and according to the days of your departure from Egypt. Carmelus interpretatur scientia circumcisionis: Basanitis confusio, et Galaad transmigratio testimonii. Populus ergo Dei, et oves pascuae ejus, quae prius pascebantur absquegrege Domini, et extra Ecclesiam ejus, in saltu versabantur errorum, postea transferentur ad notitiam verae circumcisionis, et servient Deo in spiritu, et gloriabuntur in Domino, et non in carne confident, et erunt vera circumcisio, et non concisio. And when they have been nourished with spiritual circumcision, understanding their former sins, they will be confounded in their vices, and they will be ashamed, and they will be in the confusion that leads to life (Ecclesiastes 4), for there is another confusion that leads to death, in which Og, the king of Bashan, once dwelt, for Bashan means confusion: concerning which worst confusion, the Lord promises to deliver his people: The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring again from the depths of the sea (Psalm 68, 23). And when we know true circumcision, and are confounded concerning our sins, then we shall be in Galaad, which is interpreted as the transmigration of testimony, in the Church of Christ, to which the testimonies of the Law and the words of the Prophets have transcended, and this will happen to us according to the ancient days, according to the days when we went out of the land of Egypt, of which Moses says: Remember the days of eternity (Deut. XXXII, 7), not the days of this world, which are called evil, but eternal days. But he remembers the days of eternity, which does not look at the present, and rose with Christ, and sits with him in heavenly places, now assuming in mind that he has been liberated from the days of the present age. The divine word also promises that it will show to its people and to the sheep of its inheritance wonders: Then, it says, the nations will see and will be confounded in all their strength, because they had once devastated and prevailed against the people of God, and their confusion will have profit, when they understand their own evils. For they will place their hands upon their mouths, and evil deeds will take away from them all freedom of speech. In the same way that the hands of impious nations close their mouths, so will the hands of the righteous unlock their mouths, receiving the ability to speak with God from the good work of those who accept it. Their ears will also become deaf, for wickedness has not only blinded the sight of their eyes, but it has also made their ears deaf; for they refused to hear the voice of those who enchant, and the wise sorcerer. And according to Isaiah: They have heard heavily with their ears (Isa. XXXIII): although it is much less to hear heavily than to not hear at all, and to become deaf to the word of truth. After so many evils are spoken of them, it is said that they lick the ground like serpents, which drag the earth, walking in their belly, and eating the earth all the days of their life (Gen. III). And of the flesh, that is, doing earthly works, and dragging them with themselves until the day of vengeance and visitation of the Lord, not dust, not the small traces of the earth, but the whole ground. And when they have done this, and come before the judgement of God, and have been convicted and disturbed, they will be disturbed and convicted as long as the earth they have drawn upon remains in them, like serpents. But when that departs from them, they will be astonished and amazed, not in the Lord their God (for they have not yet deserved to be called the Lord their God), but in the Lord our God. And suddenly there is a turning towards Christ and it is said to him: And they will fear you. For the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 7). And these things will happen so that the nations may see and be confounded in all their strength of evil; and they will place their hand over their mouth, and their ears will be stopped, and they will lick the ground like serpents that drag the earth, so that they may be brought to a close and be troubled by the closure, and then, terrified, be astonished by the Lord God of the holy ones, and in the end, they themselves may also fear Him. This is according to the Septuagint (LXX). Furthermore, because our edition does not differ much from theirs, at least in the present context, we believe that what was said in their edition is also said in ours.

7:18-20

(Verse 18-20.) Who is God like you? You who take away iniquity and pass over the sin of the remnant of your inheritance. He will not continue to be angry, for he delights in showing mercy. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot and hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will be faithful to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you swore to our fathers long ago. LXX: Who is like you, O God? You who removes iniquities and surpasses injustices for those who remain as your heritage? He did not retain his anger as testimony because he desires mercies. He will return and have mercy on us, he will submerge our sins, and all our sins will be cast into the deep sea. He will give Jacob truth and Abraham mercy, as you swore to our fathers in the days of old. The wise prophet, seeing the multitude of nations disturbed in its conclusion, is amazed and afraid of God, and therefore the Lord rages in order to take away sins and grant salvation. He praises and marvels at the Lord, saying: Who is like you, O God, taking away iniquities and surpassing injustices (Exodus 12): just as the exterminator passed over the people of Israel in Egypt and did not destroy them (hence the name Passover, which means passing over), so you spare the nations, not counting their iniquities against them. Furthermore, what follows is this: Those who remain of his inheritance have not held his wrath as a testimony. This is the meaning: If he spared the nations that did not want to believe in his Law, and those who were left from the people are abandoned, he did not want to impute their injustices to them nor did he inflict his wrath as a testimony of just punishment. What will he do with his flock, which grazes in the middle of Carmel, and in Bashan, and in Gilead? For he is willing to show mercy, and he will have compassion on us, and he will carry our sins, and the iniquities that weigh upon us like a talent of lead, he himself will bear and plunge into the sea, and he will not allow them to be. He will give truth to Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, in order to restore his people, who are like supplanters and novelties, and who are always in strife. In Christ, he will fulfill his promise, and he will grant mercy to the multitude of nations (for Abraham is called the father of many nations), just as he swore to our ancestors who were witnesses to our ancient faith, that he would save some from the whole multitude of humanity in truth and others in mercy. But when we have interpreted, he will no longer unleash his fury; 'ultra' Symmachus rendered as 'forever'; Theodotio as 'to the end'; Seventy-five edition as a testimony: 'for whom it is placed in the Hebrew Led' (); and both 'ultra' and 'forever' can be understood as testimony. I, too, will speak at the end of my work, by sealing the labor of my booklet with the invocation of the Lord: O God, who is like you? Take away the iniquity of your servant; pass over the sin of the rest of my soul, lest you unleash your fury upon me, nor chastise me in your anger: for you are merciful, and abundant in your mercies. Turn back, and have mercy on me: throw down my iniquities, and cast them into the depths of the sea: so that the saltiness and bitterness of vices may perish in the false region. Give the truth which you promised to your servant Jacob, and the mercy which you promised to your friend Abraham, and deliver my soul from the persecutors of your prophets, Ahab and Jezebel, as you swore to my fathers in ancient days, saying: As I live, says the Lord, I do not desire the death of the sinner, but only that he may turn back and live (Ezek. 33:11). And elsewhere: Immediately when you turn and groan, you will be saved. Then my enemy will see, and she will be covered with confusion, who now says to me: Where is your Lord God (Ps. XLI, 4, 11)? I will see your vengeance in her, and it will be like the mud of the streets, and she will be trampled on, so that she may no longer build Egyptian cities with mud and straw.